Kenyan Way Long Run - 16 Miles

From now on I do believe I will think of this when I don't want to train

My alarm went off at 4am and honestly I was ready for it.  I had actually woken up at 2am by a little kitty on my back.  He has started that whole 'biscuit making thing' otherwise known as a kitty massage.  For some reason it made me smile and think of Harley as he was a pro at that from a very early age.

I got out of bed, got dressed and made a foldover pb&j.  Then I put on my gear, grabbed 3 gels (only used 2 of them along with a buttload of salt tabs!) and walked out the door into according to my phone app was 82deg/89% humidity.  It was 4:35am.

It takes me roughly 7 min to drive to the KW base and when I rolled up, there were already about 6 people there and even Coach had made his presence known as there was already a table out.

My plan was to do 6-7 miles before starting the route (it was only 8.25 mile route this morning but at least it was a new one, and no park and no bayou (unless you wanted to add on), which I was avoiding.

I headed down Memorial to the park, but upon reaching the park, I stayed on the road instead of the path (easy to do at 5am-ish) and ran almost to the Tennis Center then doubled back to the road that runs by the pool.  I then made my way through the neighborhood back there, running all the way back to the courtesy water table set up for us early runners.  Then I turned back and headed down Blossom.  I had about 6.5 miles and after getting Gatorade at base I asked what time it was and was told it was 5:54.  6 minutes is too long to stand around so I headed off back down Memorial ahead of everyone starting.  I knew that I didnt need the directions as by the time I was going to be unsure about where to go, others would have passed me and I could just follow suit.

Everything was running along smoothly until around mile 11 and the heat and the now risen sun started to take its toll and I began my 7/1 march through the remaining part of the route.  I made the choice to turn off and head down Shepherd (not losing any distance), but had the shade if you ran on the right side of the road and it wasnt until I got back to Memorial that I was faced with running into the sun again.  Then came the hardest mile of all.  The one I had left after returning to base.  Even just stopping for a short bit to rehydrate it was mentally tough to take off again knowing my car was. right. there.  Ugh.  My legs felt like lead and it was truly mental at that point to will myself to finish.  As I had made my way around and then back onto JH, Coach was out running and flew by me and somehow gave me the boost I needed to soldier on and finish as strong as I could.

I talked a bit with a few folks and then headed off, racing to my iced fountain Diet Coke.  Sounds counter intuitive but its the one thing that is certain for me after my Saturday runs.  I make sure I have money in the car so that I can stop before I get home.

Now as I type this, after cleaning house, doing laundry, finally eating around 1pm (Whataburger!), and as I just walked to the car to get some boxes, my legs feel amazingly ok.  One week down, 2 more to go before another cut back week...Yes, thats how I have to play this game...And then comes the best part as far as I am concerned:  one week up, one week down.  Oh how I love me some every other weekend long runs as opposed to this up, up, up, down business!

Next week I need to try and get 7-8 miles done early.  Its just much easier under the cover of darkness.  17 miles total is on the docket.

So what is the first thing you want after a long hot sweaty run? (Diet Coke) Do you indulge in something awful in the way of food? (French fries!).  What kind of training plan do you follow?  Does it have increasing weeks, then a cut back?  Every other weekend long run?  Do tell.