This morning's workout was supposed to be 8 miles with 7 Yassos (800m repeats). Obviously, that did not happen. In the first mile it was very apparent that the Yassos were not going to happen. I was very hungry. So I immediately abandoned the idea of the 800m repeats and thought I would do some "quality" miles and still run the full 8 miles. As the run continued, I got hungrier. I normally will eat something right before I run, but I was running a few minutes late this morning and wanted to get in all 7 Yassos and all 8 miles. Also, the speed of the Yassos tend to make me queasy if I eat too much before or eat between the repeats. For me, nutrition is a huge part of my running. My metabolism is so fast I have to eat before almost any run and also during any run over 6 or 7 miles. I should have known there was no way what I tried to do this morning was going to work.
At the 4 mile turn-around point I felt okay. By 5.2 miles I was suffering and dizzy. I had already figured out that I also probably did not eat enough yesterday (duh!). I ran to 6 miles and cut the course short and walked home. I drank a recovery drink and felt fine. I usually don't run without breakfast, much less 8 miles with speed work. Lesson learned.
I will probably move my pace run to tomorrow morning. I normally do it on Friday, the day before my long run. However, Friday I have to fast after 9:30pm Thursday for a nutrition study in which I am participating. I know that after today trying to run a pace run with no breakfast would be a disaster. Also afterward, without being able to refuel, I would probably take someone's head off! The 15 miler the next day would suffer. I really did learn something this morning! |