Tomorrow is ‘long run’ day. 18-19 miles of running long. After this run, I WILL START MY TAPER until the MARATHON! WHAT??? My run next week is 14-15 miles. I guess that’s a taper, right? Man, oh man. I’m doing this thing!
I’m only a little nervous about my run tomorrow. I feel much better than I did last week for my 16-17 mile run. I can either do it or I can’t. Right now, I’m more concerned about remembering all of the little prep work that I need to do for my run. All you do is ‘lace up and get out there’ huh? I wish. It takes me nearly 30 minutes to get out of the door if everything is going as planned. Some mornings it takes me 45 minutes or an hour. Some mornings I struggle to get it together.
Last week, I tried really, really hard to remember everything but missed some stuff, anyway. I had some rubbing and chafing in a couple of areas where I had some history of discomfort. I forgot to ‘prep’ those areas. Ugh. I’ll be paying for that mistake for a long time in the way of some unattractive scarring. Yay.
Here’s my list:
- charge watch and ear buds
- freeze 1 Gatorade/1 water for hydration belt, 1 bottle will have unfrozen Gatorade
- put fuel chews, debit card and ID in hydration belt pocket
- lay out clothes, shoes, visor
- force myself to go to bed on time (harder than it should be)
- check sunrise time and set alarm accordingly
- rub Body Glide and deodorant on all problem areas (I won’t traumatize you by listing them.)
- eat something (I only eat before long runs so it’s not a habit and I need a reminder.)
- loosen hair (shrinkage after my hair gets wet makes it tight and that gives me a headache)
- take an Aleve for later… (don’t judge me)
- decide on some ‘after run’ food so I don’t just eat whatever I see first (remember: don’t judge me!)
So basically, this is how I’ll look in the morning 🙂
I have made peace with the fact that I cannot run the entire 26.2 miles. No need to list the reasons, just take my word for it. I’ve decided that I CAN run a 5:1 again (like I did Houston with the pace group). That 1 minute seemed to be very helpful for my energy and pain level toward the end of my run last week. I’ve found an app that beeps at the intervals so I know when to run and when to walk. I used it for my long run last week and thought it worked well.
Last week, I made the decision to get my diet back on track. I don’t mean so much ‘diet’ like to lose weight, I mean diet as in what I eat. I’ve been pretty much enjoying all of the delicious things that I’ve wanted for the last few months and I KNOW my running is suffering. So, to help, I bought a kick in the rear end called DietToGo. I picked 3 meals a day for 7 days and they mailed me individual meals packed in dry ice in a big Styrofoam container. I got it yesterday and started the meals today. It is real food that ‘s been flash frozen for shipment. 
For breakfast, I had egg quesadilla, potato cake and a citrus bowl. Lunch was tomato basil soup, corn/spinach cup (which was excellent) and a probiotic yogurt drink. I am lactose intolerant and HATE the taste of yogurt,so I didn’t drink it.
I ate 4 crackers instead. 🙂 Dinner is spinach and parm/spinach stuffed chicken breast and Italian mixed veggies with almonds. The food has been good so far. I will have to supplement with snacks – fresh fruit, veggies to get my calories up to where they need to be for my body/activity level.
Could I cook my own meals? Yes. Would it be cheaper? Yes. Have I been cooking my own healthy meals? No. Therein lies the problem.
My plan is to get the meals until my race and make a call afterward about continuing.
That’s all I’ve got. Wish me luck on my long run in the morning.
Until next time!
TomSo,
Run Dedeaux Run 