Thursday, November 8, 2012

I Never Learn



 November is here and my rest period from the long runs has come to a close. I took a bit of a break from ultras after the Haliburton 100 and ran the Chicago Marathon a p.b. for me at 3.16. It felt so good to run fast again I decided to sign up for a half marathon at Hamilton's road to hope race,another p.b. of 1.29:57 even though I came down with a cold the week before. This is where the never learning began.
  Road to Hope was Sunday the 4th I felt great after and planned some long runs Wednesday and Thursday.Wednesday arrived and I left early in the morning planning to see the sun quickly,instead I froze in my shorts and thin jacket,I should know better. The planned 40km quickly became a 25km escape for heat. At this point I had a great idea, I'll run with the group in Paris at night and make it up, a nice steady run nothing to crazy. My friend Henry made an appearance and suddenly the whole run changed into a bit of a tempo run ,we are  both a "little" competitive so this typically happens. I should still be fine for Thursdays 40km right?
  The picture above is Thursday mornings start,a beautiful morning,sun out and I'm dressed right. Unfortunately still not listening to any common sense. I went out too fast, ran all the hills,wandered down every side trail and deer run in sight and the short story is at 32kms slipped in some fresh mud slid part way down a hill before crashing in an exhausted heap in a pile of leaves.As I looked up at the sunny sky I ran through all my errors in my head as I contemplated a short nap.Too many fast runs in one week ,not near enough calories ,underestimating the weather,overestimating my own fitness level and just plane being way too stubborn.Eventually struggled back to my feet and finished the run at an extremely slow pace.
  Will I learn from this lesson and plan smarter in the future....I doubt it.

P.S. running in the Brooks Pure Grit on almost every run right now and absolutely loving them