Running Missery

Sunday, September 13, 2015 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Hopefully y’all are having a great weekend! Yesterday was certainly the near perfect fall day and one of those days we all look forward to as runners. I was out at Pease doing my weekend Guard duty and thanks to a fairly quiet schedule I was able to get out and go for a lunch time run (more on that in a bit). Yesterday in the late afternoon was the annual Fox Point 5 Miler in Newington and you could not have asked for a nicer day to run around Newington Village. Every year the Fox Point race falls on the same weekend that I have Guard duty, so on occasion I will go over and watch the race but quite honestly after a long day at the base I am more apt to head home. Yesterday I once again had many friends participating as well as many with NFLR ties however, I had planned an early dinner with some friends on the deck of Castaways. While Castaways may not be the best food, sitting along the Piscataqua River on their deck with good friends is my idea of a near perfect fall night. I was not disappointed and it was a wonderful night. A perfect night would have been having my wife with us! As I mentioned I was fortunate to have some time in my schedule yesterday at lunch to go for run with the weather being near perfect, I was pretty pumped. Most the morning I was hydrating well so I could be prepared for a nice 75 to 80 minute run hopefully 8 plus miles. Around 11:30 I was out of our building and on the road! Soon my left calf told me that I didn’t prepare myself well enough and my legs in general were signaling complaints that they were not exactly recovered from the multiple hill workouts done the prior few days. The calf was really the only issue that I would give much consideration and thankfully that improved as I ran. With Reach the Beach (RTB) less than a week away there is no way I can risk injury but, I also felt like I needed one last long run. As I moved along I could not seem to find a comfortable pace and quite honestly I felt pretty depleted. I ran over the path that connects the Tradeport with Newington Village and I labored up the steady incline that seem to further suck the energy out of my body. As I made my way up Little Bay road I pretty much questioned my running existence and even tried to figure out who could take my RTB legs. Crossing the half way point of my run was a little encouraging but I was pretty gassed. My thoughts were that I would be well pass the 5 mile point when I turned off Nimble Hill road and back on to Arboretum but I was only at 4.5 so that was a little defeating. I had nothing in me physically or mentally at that point so I started mixing in 2 minutes of walking after each mile until I got on the base where I finished by walking to my building. 6.5 miles and I look like I had just run 50 miles! Not exactly a run to remember or one that builds a lot of confidence running up to an event like RTB. Running is so crazy and while one day you can feel like you can run for hours, others you question why you are even running. As someone that studies running and looks at it from a physiological standpoint I understand all too well the effects of previous workouts on a current run. Most of last week for me was filled with hill repeats and those certainly drained me physically as well as beat me some. Even knowing that yesterday I was frustrated greatly and still feel quite defeated. I’m a terrible coach for myself and thankfully I seem to be able to work with others better than I work with myself. The challenges I put on myself last week were great and I succeeded somewhat but, now I have to let my body recover and heal before I get in that van for RTB. I am hopeful that my preparation for my 3 challenging legs is adequate but, certainly I need to feel rested and strong physically at the start. Lots of foam rolling this week, a deep tissue massage and very little running! Hopefully all said I will be ready to tackle my leg challenging second leg at 2 in the morning! This week we will have a modified schedule of training groups. There will be no group run tomorrow morning, regular track workout Tuesday (6pm) at the Dover track, Wednesday from the 7th Settlement Brewery, Thursday from the Center and Saturday morning is to be determined. Enjoy you Sunday and thanks for having coffee with me! God Bless! Mike