I think is part of the reason I felt awful on both my runs this weekend... The first was only 5k! Yup after 100's possibly even 1000's of kilometers I'm complaining about a measly 5k run. I should specify that I started basically at the top of a mountain and had to run down only to turn around and come back up, not my favorite type of training! Also I saw a bear so that definitely threw a wrench into my pace:
It's hard to see the bear (right side of the road in the center of the photo) because I decided I should back up quite a bit before taking a photo. When I spotted it I was running towards it and I was worried that perhaps some cubs were following close behind so I waited a safe distance away before continuing on. The bear paused for a moment in the middle of the road and looked at me before disappearing into the bushes. Black bears aren't really an unusual occurrence where we live but I was visiting some family in a more secluded area this weekend and I knew I should have come better prepared with a whistle or a bear bell in the event of a closer encounter. Though I really didn't love the added hill training it was a really beautiful day and nice and cool in the shade of the trees:
On Sunday I was scheduled to do a LSD (long slow distance run) with my run club, it was only 16k but I dreaded it the entire weekend. I'm not sure why after all the running I've done this year it felt so far but I just wasn't into it especially knowing that if 16k was that painful, how am I going to feel at 35k or even 42.2k...? I know I'm just in a rut and I'm tired but still this is not the time for that!
2. It's hot.
No matter how much I may want to be I am NOT a hot weather person. Yes I love looking out my window at a sunny day like anyone else but I hate being too hot. I would much rather go for a run on a cooler sunny day in the fall. As the temperatures rise I find myself less and less motivated to get out there and run. Knowing all of these things from running through the entire summer last year you may be wondering why I signed up for a full in September. Well, I was more considering the temperature on race day as opposed to the majority of my training runs. Which is silly really because obviously my training runs are going to total a lot more kilometers than just on race day. That's a lot of time out there on the roads in the heat of the summer.
3. I've got hydration issues.
This is perhaps my biggest problem right now especially combined with the heat. I drink a lot of water, on Sunday I had drank both 10 oz bottles I had with me by 6km. Up until now this year, it hasn't been an issue because most of my longer runs have been races which of course have water stations. In the event that I had been doing a 10k+ run on my own I've just been stopping at a gas station to fill up but as we get into the 20k+ runs that's going to waste too much time. So I've made the plunge to try something completely different: a hydration pack!
