Week 8 :: A Challenge

I don't know if it was the holiday smack in the middle of the week, or that in addition to other non-running turbulence, but this week was a tough one. I somehow managed to get all of my runs in. I'm not sure how...



I may have mentioned that my company's lease was up at the end of May and our new building was still not ready for us. I have been working from home since then and it really agreed with me and my training. The new building is still not completed and last Thursday we moved into a temporary space.

The temporary office is in downtown Orlando, a former shopping complex attached to Church Street Station, which was a swingin' night spot in the late eighties and early nineties. The space was converted to offices and was home to TransContenintal, owned by Lou Perlman, the man behind The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Mr. Perlman is now bankrupt and an alleged felon. The building sat empty for three months until we arrived on Thursday morning.

There are some issues with the situation that are just dragging me down. Including:

The old office was a 26 mile drive that took me about 45 minutes in the morning to arrive. The new temporary office is a 42 mile drive that includes two toll roads to the tune of $2.50 one way, and it takes an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half to get there.

There is no microwave or drinking water. Ah... The things we take for granted. I am working hard at properly fueling myself and with no way to store or heat food, I have eaten out two days in a row and it seems that trend will continue until we get into the new office. I brought water back with me Thursday afternoon (I left the downtown area to put gas in my car) but Friday, I never came across any.

And overall the building is just disgusting. Yuck.

Excuse my whining, but the situation has me in sort of a funk.

My Monday and Tusday runs went without incident. Nothing special, and everything as planned. I started feeling tired and cross training on Wednesday didn't happen. I was so tired on Thursday, I could not bring myself to run in the morning. I planned on running when I got home from work.

I was not planning on getting home at 7:30 PM and being starving. I cooked dinner and by the time I ate, I really just wanted to go to bed. I was asleep by 9:30 PM.

Friday I was determined to make up my seven mile run. I had 6 X 800s scheduled and I really enjoy speedwork. I ran and by mile five, my stomach was not feeling so hot. I plugged along, finished my intervals and the seven miles and headed for the shower. I turned the shower on as cold as I could stand. I had a feeling that warm water was not going to agree with me. As it turns out, nothing was agreeing with me. After just a few minutes, I was forced to bolt across the bathroom and I threw up.

Is that running 'til you puke?

That has happened to me one other time when I ran a long distance without much in my stomach.

I recovered, finished my shower and took my time getting something to eat and slowly ate. I wasn't sick the rest of the day, but my stomach was still feeling a little sensitive.

After I had missed my Thursday run, I was feeling like I was behind the eight-ball for the remainder of the week. I ran my five mile Friday run on Saturday and then we headed off to EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom. We didn't get home until after midnight, and I didn't have the world's best dinner last night. With a twelve mile long run looming over me, I didn't know if I had it in me this morning. I procrastinated until nearly 1:30 PM and then I got started.

Today was my first exeriment with Clif Shots. I took Marathon Chris' advice and went with the Chocolate Energy Gel. It indeed tasted like cake frosting. Because I was feeling sluggish, I consumed three shots over the course of my run. One every three and a half miles or so. And I made it through. Without the Clif Shots, I really don't think I would have made it through it today. I was surprised how well they actually worked.

All things considered, if this is as challenging as it gets, I should count myself lucky.

I guess these are small bumps in the road, and I'm still on course. I'm just feeling tired and a little crabby.