Busy TNT Day

So I was so happy this morning when I looked at the schedule and realized that we were scheduled to run on the west side today! That meant that I didn't have to wake up as early, which was good because I was out pretty late the night before since some of my friends were in town.

We started the day with a nutrition clinic. Most of the info was pretty basic, but I did learn that the Marine Corps marathon will be having Powerade instead of Gatorade Endurance Formula (which is what most marathons have). I also found out that 60% of my diet should be carbs and then on Thursdays and Fridays I should pump them up to 70-80% of my diet.

Because today was Connection to the Cause, we had a shorter run than we were scheduled for. Instead of 12 miles we did 40 minutes out and 40 minutes back. The catch was that we ran along the West Side Highway. There is a bike path there, which is nice. The good thing is that the entire path is pretty flat. The bad thing is that there is no shade so the sun is beating down on you the whole time. Also you can see the Hudson, but are far enough away from it that you don't get the benefits of a nice breeze.

Since I go by landmarks and not by street names it seemed like an especially long run. I remember saying to my mentor, Gina (who was running with me) "We're all the way down by Chelsea Piers?!" I looked at my watch and figured out that we still had about 20 minutes left. Geez. It felt like we had already been running for 40! I WAS feeling pretty good though. I even felt like I was kind of on the butt of some other people and had to pass them. I like running with Gina because she always negative splits her runs. That is my problem...I cannot do that. I push too far in the beginning. We were also running with this other girl, Nikki, who likes to run with me because she said that I push her pace. So I think we are all good for each other.

Unfortunately, on the way back we all lost each other. Gina stopped for water and told me to keep going and I never saw her again. Nikki disappeared before we even turned around.

The one thing that I was really glad that I had was my water bottle. I had filled it with half Gatorade and half water and froze it in the freezer overnight. So all during my run it was cold. AND the exact right taste. I realized that Gatorade is normally a little too strong for me and leaves a sort of viscous aftertaste in my mouth (ew. Sorry. I know that is gross). But I have to figure out something new for my fuel belt. It keeps riding up on me and making my shirt ride up. I am afraid I am going to get some horrible chafing. So I try to push it down around my waist, which works for about three strides before it rides up.

Anyway, the run back was worse and I felt like a loser because I stopped like three times to rehydrate and added 3 minutes onto my 40 :(

But then I found out that everyone basically had the same problem. I think we just aren't used to the heat. I ended up doing 8.5 miles at a 9:45 pace. Not too bad. I was really pushing myself this week too. (I had a 9 mile run on Thursday where I kept a consistent 9:00 minute pace for all three loops).

After our run we had carbs galore back at the school. I grabbed a huge chocolate chip muffin :)

Then we had Connection to the Cause. We got to meet all of our honored teammates. They all are running with us, but have had Leukemia and have beat it. I was surprised that a lot of them were around my age. It was VERY inspirational and made me glad that I am running for Team in Training.

On another note, my crazy coach, Ramon, didn't run with us today because it was his 41st birthday. In celebration he decided to run 41 upper loops of Central Park. He said that he would be running for about 10 hours and we were welcome to join him on a few of the loops if we wanted to. He is crazy!!!