One week in

First week of training is finished! Tough weekend of running and I may need to reconsider my goals if next week is similar. The intermediate program I'm on calls for a run at race pace most Saturdays, followed by a long, slow run on Sundays. Saturday morning I started on the 5 mile jaunt with the goal of holding a 7:30 pace. After starting a bit faster at 7:22, my pace cratered and I struggled to stay under 8:00 minutes the remaining 4 miles, hitting about 7:50. It was a little humid, but I was just tired. I am definitely not used to running 5 times a week. Leaden legs for 40 minutes of running is torture. I was literally going into focus mode and looking at the sidewalk cracks two steps ahead to get through the pain. The rest of the day I attempted to refuel the machine, pounding Gatorade and pasta, and more pasta at a wedding that evening.

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 6am. I felt like I was up to my neck in sand, flicked the screen of my iPhone to silence the annoyance, and crashed into REM for a couple more hours. I haven't been this tired since summers roofing and evenings playing hockey or baseball in high school. I delayed the scheduled 10 miler until the evening, getting out of the house after 7, then waiting several minutes for Garmin 305 to find a satellite. My only complaint with this genius gadget. After that I had my worst training run. An 8:30 pace quickly slipped to about 9:05ish a mile in. Looping up and down adjacent streets in our neighborhood between 9 and 10 mile, I ran past houses I haven't passed before. Remarkable the diversity in house design for a city that is entirely bungalows and ranches. I'm serious, each house is distinctly unique. Love it! About 5 miles in, stomach rumblings brought me out of reverie and into feeling the unpleasant present. Debate over shortening my route ended as my stomach quieted and I turned to cross 10 mile for the finishing leg. This was a mistake. Making the turn at the 8 mile mark, my furthest point from home in the entire run, I knew I was at high risk of an intestinal incident. Fortunately there were many walkers and porch sitters enjoying a pleasant evening, so any personal disturbance could be shared with neighbors. At 8.6, the jostling of internal organs was pressuring uncomfortable and I reluctantly slowed to a walk, knowing this would triple my time to get to the safe home toilet. I fought a losing battle with the gurgling and had an uncomfortable last mile. Very happy to finally make the turn into the driveway. A fine denouement to the inaugural training week, not the way I drew it up. It can only get better from here, right?