The Plodding Continues, In A Good Way

If you want to be successful, know what you are doing, love what you are doing and believe in what you are doing. -- Will Rogers, from Amanda

Maybe a new version of the m-dot?

According to the plan from Coach Bri, this week was supposed to be a 12-mile run in preparation for the 3M Half-Marathon on January 30th. Wasn't really looking forward to it, but I knew I had to do it. I had not done any running since Thursday, because I worked on installing wood flooring Friday through Sunday, and the knees needed a break Monday. So it was time to get back to it. Climb on the treadmill and hope nobody wants it after 30 minutes... set the speed at 5.7 and set in for a 2-hour-plus beat-down. I decided to see how long I could keep the run going without walking, so I made no effort to increase the speed... just a matter of finishing standing up, right? The miles and minutes clicked slowly by. I had intentionally picked this treadmill because I knew this one doesn't start an automatic cool-down after 60 minutes. So when I hit 100 minutes and all of a sudden the clock went blank and started counting over, I thought I had accidentally hit some button and lost all my data. But I realized the mileage was still there, so the time display was limited to 99:59. Kinda funny, it looked like I had run 11 miles or so in about 15 minutes... should have taken a picture of THAT!  But once you get to the double-digit miles, you only see the tenth of a mile, as opposed to the hundredths, and that makes the run seem to go by REALLY slowly.

When I was at about 9.5 miles and still feeling somewhat okay, I got to thinking - if I am running 12 miles, why not just go ahead and do another 1.1 and call it a half-marathon completed? So that was what I did. 2 hours, 18 minutes and 39 seconds after I started running, I watched the mileage click over and was DONE! I stood there for a minute looking at the display (and making sure I could still stand!) and then went to the locker room, stripped out of the soaked clothes and drank a bottle of water and the HoneyMilk I had packed in the mini-cooler to keep cold. It isn't a long walk to the shower from the bench but it was a stiff, slow walk. I thought the legs would feel it in the morning for sure. 

I am extremely happy that I was wrong. There is a little tightness in one muscle, but I feel pretty good other than that. I am totally sold on the HoneyMilk recovery drink. I would have thought the old bones would have issues crawling out of bed, but none of that - not even any back soreness. So the plan for Ironman Florida is to make sure somebody has my HoneyMilk in a cooler at the finish... maybe I could get some sponsorship if I get my finisher photo done with the HoneyMilk in my hand? Product placement...

 So that was the last long run before the 3M run. Next Monday or so will be a 1-hour run and maybe a 2-3 mile run later in the week to keep the stiffness away. But I am real happy with the progress in the run, even though I know it will be slower on the road than on the treadmill. Dare I say it? I am actually starting to "like" the running...