Sunday I ran a 13 mile South Farms loop, although I was planning to run longer. When I got home to refuel (mile 13), I was ready to walk out the door and then abruptly decided that I was through for the day. I had not gotten much sleep the prior 2 nights and I could feel a sluggishness which weighed on my mind and body. Physically I felt good, but I decided it was best to cut it short.
Today I had the same plan as Sunday, run as long as I comfortably could, which I was hoping would be 2 full loops for 26 miles. During the first loop I was thinking about the Lean Horse 100 and tried to imagine it was race day. I searched for a pace which I would have liked to run if I found myself at mile 70. If I found myself picking up the pace, I asked, "could I run this fast at mile 70?" If I answered no, then I slowed down. I did a lot of slowing down during those 13 miles.
Unfortunately I realized my quads were sore early in the run. I did 5 x 1000m hard loops at Busey Woods 2 days prior (at 1:00pm), and although that is not a lot of reps, the temperature was 95 degrees with high humidity. In normal heat I am probably fit enough to run 12 x 1000m loops, but the heat knocked me out by the 4th one, and I struggled to get to 5. Those 5 reps must have been tougher than I had anticipated because my quads had not yet recovered from the effort.
The positives for the day was it was only in the low 80's at noon, with moderately high humidity. I chugged along at 70 mile pace and covered the 13 miles in about 2:40. The easy pace left me breathing easy, so I tried to forget about my sore quads. When I refueled at home (mile 13) I ate more than I should have, and when I resumed the run, heading back to Busey Woods, I felt a bit bloated. The day now felt warmer, maybe 84-85, and by the time I got out of the woods I lost control of my breathing. It was similar to what happened at my 22 mile run at Mingo last month, although this time I could not blame the heat or a fast first 7 miles.
Within minutes I lost all energy and the will to continue. I thought it was just a bad patch that needed to be worked through, but once I started walking I knew I was done for the day. It felt similar to a bonk, although I am sure I still had some fuel left in my body. The same feeling overtook me a couple years ago at Wild Wilderness Race at Kickapoo. After 3 miles I lost the will and energy to run, and I had to jog the remaining 4 miles of the race. That day marked the end of my faster running efforts. I lost the will to run fast after that experience, and the following year all I did was run long and slow. The end of last year I started doing some moderate speed workouts, and this spring I picked it up a bit more. However, I have yet to recover my old capabilities, as I ran a 5k in July in 21:00, well off my normal times from 2 years ago.
Sometimes my body quits on me for reasons that are beyond my comprehension. I can easily accept it, however, things don't always go according to my wishes. I do what my body allows, and push it as far as I think it wants to be pushed. Maybe it is telling me that 100 miles is out of the question at this time. I will try another long run on Sunday or Monday, maybe it will go better. If not, my 100 mile dream is busted for now.
