Review: Clif Shot Block & Unsheduled, scheduled run

Today I was scheduled for a 6 mile run, but nothing I did today ended up being planned. I woke up late (8:30am) which means I'd be running in the heat. Not having slept well, I got up and around quickly, going out the door pretty groggy. It was hot.
My friend texted to meet her garage selling. I didn't exactly feel like shopping for junk, but I also wasn't feeling like running at all. I felt tired, hurried, I hadn't eaten, hadn't sipped coffee, and mostly unorganized. I decided to meet up with her and put off running for a few hours telling myself it was already hot and a few hours wasn't going to make much difference.
We ended up driving to the nearest city and retail shopped - until 4pm!
Going home, we both relayed how tired we were. I laid my head against the car passenger seat and planned my run for tomorrow.
Then, I remembered I wanted to try out my Clif Shot Blok. The directions said to take one before running, and although I never did that with GU products, I thought it might create some energy and help me salvage a run tonight.
I ate one. Ugh. Hard to get down. Overly sweet. Overly soft, like a jelled syrup. Whew! I swigged a little of my watered-down soda. You're suppose to eat this with a good amount of water, but I don't have it on me.
I decided to run the 6 miles. I hopped in my car and headed for the Beaver Lake Trail to do 3 loops of 2 miles. I figured that paved running would literally be the path of least resistance.
Within a mile of starting out, I felt nausea. Enough nausea to double over, hoping to throw up, only to stare at a dead, black lizard. Instead of the relief of hurling, I unfolded back upright and kept moving forward. My stomach stayed upset for most of the run and the swealtering heat just added to that discomfort.
I ended up detouring from the paved path onto a dirt obstacle course. This is a totally old-school ARMY obstacle course where the idea is to run from point to point, stopping only to hurl yourself over logs stacked up at varying heights or pits filled with water. Needless to say, I skipped that fun. I walked a lot.
I saw a fuzzy, white rabbit tail hop into the darkened forest. I saw lots of blackberries starting to juice up and turn from red to black. I got scratched until I bled on my legs and arms from said blackberry bushes (at least I think that's the culprit). I sweat salt into my new wounds. My head pounded so much that I couldn't listen to my ipod. I felt dizzy. My stomach ached on and off. My body lagged. I worried that I had gambled on pushing a crappy run instead of waiting for the next day. It was just really sucking. Until..., it wasn't.
On the 3rd lap, I all-of-a-sudden felt good. So good that I thought about throwing 2 more miles on the fire, making it 8. I basked in this new found delirium..., until the tiredness came back and I realized I was mistaking good for just better. I felt better, that was all, but not well.
Coming into view of the last bit of road I thought about how bipolar runner can be during training. The highs and lows, the goals and revisions of those goals as you delve into more miles. Getting off the roller coaster, I walked into the parking lot, to my car and was just glad to be done today.

Review for Clif Shot Blok: I felt nausea, but that's not all that uncommon for me and GU type products. I also didn't have the water to dilute it in my stomach. I felt perked up after it got into my system, but it was short lived and I wondered if it was simply a sugar (brown sugar syurp) high. But, I also had been really, tired today and additionally, I'm not exposed to a lot of sugar in one sitting like that. - Although I'd only had two of the bloks (not even a serving). I will say though, that for the first run in a long time, my legs felt GREAT. No cramping, no tightness, and really they were the least tired body parts. I was running on paved ground however, which is an eleviation from the difficulty of unpaved surfaces. Soo... I will try the Bloks again, with water, and see how it goes.

Update 2010: I now know that I can't eat Clif Blok Shots or take Ibuprophen or Aleve or drink Powerade. I had thought back then that if it didn't have corn syurp, I was okay. I now know that citric acid, salt and other additives come from corn. I probably was having an allergic reaction in this run (dizziness, tiredness, nausea, etc).

Joy.

Today, not at 4.5 miles like the last "long run" but today, at 6.3 miles I felt like a runner again.

I think there are a few reasons why this small accomplishment felt good.

#1 I had planned for it. Today was my long run day. Just like when I used to run higher mileage, I always had a plan and up til now, I really never set any goals to improve on. And maybe since, I never improved!

#2 I used another trick from when I ran longer distances. I used to cut up the mileage mentally, telling myself, this is only "3 5ks" for a 9 mile run. Or, this is 2 8 mile runs for a 16 mile day. I did it in races too. Well, today I ran 3 2.1 mile loops and was able to mentally tell myself "I'm just running 2 miles."

#3 Walking the hills when needed and stopping for water between loops. When I grab a drink at my car quickly, I can start out again almost completely refreshed somehow. An old tactic that I'm using now on low mileage, but heck, it got me over my 3 mile stump!

#4 I woke up early, just like I used to, so that I could run in the coolest air of the day. Friday the sun just took me out of my run. It was miserable. I felt completely defeated. I was parched (hate carrying water). I prepared for my miles today by waking up and taking in some calories before getting dressed and leaving. Organized and on my game plan.

I'm taking Sunday off.. I had felt a few aches, my upper heal/back of the right foot and left hip/knee pain a little. I babied it with ice and Aleve. I'm taking no chances!

Monday I'll probably run 3 miles and then I need to also get back into cycle class so that I crosstrain and avoid overuse injuries. I used to love spinning but these days just don't want to be inside. I don't have my bike here in Alabama, so it's not an option. *sigh* Crosstraining needs to happen though. I know my body.

Anyway, pure joy. I smiled finishing. I felt that old feeling of accomplishment. Of salty sweat crusting. Of not feeling guilty when I eat (I didn't overeat, just felt like I was feeding my body). And.. lastly of feeding my soul. Cheesy it may sound but it was soul food. It WAS joy to have legs and be out there on them today. And everyday.


Current inspiration: Michelle Barton

Running without Motivational Drill Sergeants

Today I ran two of the three loops at Beaver Lake Trail on post. The "trail" is a mostly paved path (there are a few dirt roads) through the woods and loops around a lake. It has been rainy and humid lately in Southern Alabama but the rain had just stopped, so the start of my run was slightly cool. I felt really good the first loop (2.3 miles) with rolling hills and stopped to walk here and there as needed. The second loop (1.1 mile) was mostly uphill (counter-clockwise) and I sputtered out pretty good on each hill. I almost never look at the time anymore so I can't tell you how "fast" I ran it.

(Begin rant) On runnersworld.com I started using their training log again and wanted to use their public trail finder where other runners post trails. I've always found their Web site to be sub-parr. From a usability stand point and also, their servers just seem to be always overloaded. I remember this from years ago trying to use the same service. Every time I try to look at public running routes or make my own, it times out and I get errors on the page. Each time, I still look at my own connection thinking, maybe it's me, but it's not. It's not my browser and not my computer, it's runners world who for a big operation, still can't create a professional Web site. argh. (End rant)

Anyway, I've seen runners weave out of the woods on post but it's kinda complicated finding places to run (besides the street) because a lot of dirt roads/paths are for Authorized Personnel or are training grounds for soliders. Once I was running on a dirt road off the usual trail and out of no where (mostly because I had headphones on) a HUGE troop of soldiers, carrying guns, appeared out of the woods and headed for me. The first thing I thought was "they look scary" the second thing was "dang, they have guns" the third was wondering how long they've been in the woods and lastly was, "this is going to be akward running by them (same path) while they are training." They were probably Warrant Officer Candidates and I was wondering if drill sargents yell at civillians too. In my head it's going something like this: (with the huge hat of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman hitting my head), "WHAT ARE YOU DOING NUMBSKULL RUNNER. DON'T YOU KNOW THESE ARE MY F'ING WOODS? CAN'T YOU READ SIGNS?! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE YOU START LOOKING LIKE THE ENEMY!"

Whew! See? Scary. Especially the playout in my head. lol.

But, hopefully if I can get the RW appplication to work so I can figure out some new running locations. I think there is also a run finder on USATF and the Rails to Trails program site (none in my area though). Something to look forward to!

Fort Rucker Chili 5k Run

Since moving to Fort Rucker at the beginning of the year I have been trying to work out regularly but not building any mileage. I run a couple times a week on the Beaver Lake Trail (paved) for one or two miles. Alternatively, I'll walk the dog there for up to three miles. Three days a week I go to a spinning class at the gym on Post. The instructor is a cyclist and runs the group sessions as if we were really outside. She's great at giving visual imagery and challenging us to challenge ourselves.
Today I ran in the 17th Annual Fort Rucker Chili 5k Run & Cook off at Howze Field, Fort Rucker, Alabama. I had pre-registered at the gym but needed to pick up my race bib and t-shirt prior to the race - along with everybody else. There was a chili cooking contest going on simultaneously, so I parked near the crowd and planned to walk around and find the race registration table. A funny note about the chili cook off: there were multiple awards, one being 'worst tasting!!" lol.
Anyhow, so I walked and walked and asked people where the heck it was and followed every piece of advice to no avail. Finally after walking around for 20 minutes and getting too close to the race start I finally got back in my car to drive the gym (someone said registration was held there one year). I arrive at the gym and ask the person at the front desk about the race and she says she had no clue what I'm talking about. Ooookay.
I go back out and get in my car driving around the entire other side of the parade field (which you can't see from the opposing side) and run into some people directing traffic. Turns out I'm talking to the race director himself! I'm finally pointed to the registration table but, I'm not allowed to park near the parking area where they are set up. ARRRRGH.
Finally, I temporarily park, get my bib and get back into the car to drive somewhere else to find parking while I'm in the run. I had to go over to the entire other side again to park and then get out and walk all the way back to the registration area where the start is located.
I felt like I'd already done my 5K!
Standing at the start line I made sure to position myself at the back. A lot of the runners were soldiers and their units so I assumed they would be in it to run it hard. The race is off on time and we wind through the single soldiers 1950's orange brick housing mostly. Pretty much the most uninteresting part of the base. Wow, they really could have chosen better views of the Post but I assume these streets were easy to shut down traffic-wise.
I didn't have a great race and walked a lot. My energy this year has been low. Every workout feels like a great effort and I never seem to be able to improve much but yet have to recover a lot.
Doing a race gave me a feel for participating in the running community again, but I'm just so far away in endurance that it is bittersweet.