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| Friday night at beautiful Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri |
On Friday night my friend and fellow marathoner, Bobby, was in town to run the Garmin Marathon. So along with another friend, Matt, we went to the Royals game where it was Buck Night. Every Friday night at Kauffman Stadium is Buck Night, where peanuts and you guessed it ... hot dogs ... are one dollar. Now usually when I go to a game, I'll enjoy one hot dog, and maybe some nachos. But when we got in line for the dollar dogs, there was a sign that read "Limit four hot dogs per visit", to which my friend Matt commented, "Ya know we've gotta get four ... right!" Well, it didn't take much arm twisting for me to follow his lead. I ordered four hot dogs, loaded them up with sauerkraut, and had them in my belly before the National Anthem. (For those scoring at home, I later added beef nachos and a Dr. Pepper)
As I was getting ready for my 18 mile run on Saturday morning, I surprisingly felt like crap. Sarcasm. My stomach wasn't upset, which actually did surprise me, but my energy level was about as low as it's been in a while. Combined with pouring rain outside, I knew it was going to be a tough long run. I fought the lack of energy all morning. And it rained harder in a run than I've ever experienced before. I cut the run short at 16 miles and went inside to take a nap and sleep off the hot dog hangover.
The poor long run, and slightly below average tempo run really have me questioning my half-marathon in two weeks, and marathon in four weeks. It's not just the hot dogs ... I'm just really struggling with my running right now. The hip is finally about 90-95% healthy, but it's still pretty weak, and it put a huge dent in my training this Spring. Combined with my lack of motivation, I'm just not where I thought I'd be going into my Spring events. I'll still run the half-marathon in Wichita, but at this point, I don't really see me getting a PR. But the race really weighing on my mind is the Colfax Marathon. I don't feel anywhere near marathon ready, and I can foresee a complete disaster at that one. But I'm trying keep my focus positive.
So I need to kick it into gear. I need to find some motivation to lock down on my training. But most importantly, I think I should stop eating four hot dogs the night before long runs. I was considering using this as my marathon fueling strategy, but I'll probably just stick to chicken and rice. Hope your training ... and diet ... are going better than mine!
... Be Great Today!
Eh, four hotdogs won't make or break your training. Get it out of your head.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I consumed a disgusting, too-sweet muffin, an almond croissant, ice cream, and wine - so you could be doing a lot worse.
2 weeks of better nutrition and proper rest and hydration will have you feeling better. One night of an obscene amount of junk won't break your training. Now if you ate like that everyday and still had it in your brain that you could PR..... I might have to call you out
ReplyDeleteBut in all seriousness don't dwell on the hotdogs and just keep training. Take a couple days off to refocus if you need to. ( active rest though!!) sometimes the mental aspect is harder than the physical and your mind needs a break to recharge itself before your body will perform how you know it is capable.
Hope this upcoming week is better for you! STAY POSITIVE!!
You know why you had a bad run so you just won't do that before the half marathon. There - problem solved!
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine downing 4 hot dogs, okay I can it's just that I would feel so crappy! No wonder you had a bad run!
ReplyDeleteIt happens Jim. Despite our best efforts at eating and training not every day is going to be perfect in terms of running. I've felt rested, ate well and was full of enthusiasm for my run, only to find something was off and I didn't have the energy or whatever runner magic required to complete the workout.
ReplyDeleteShrug it off -- these things happen.
Looks like the Royals are off to a good start this year.
My diet is a disaster, so I can't say anything... Don't base failure on a couple lousy workouts, keep the faith and eat 4 less hot dogs and see what happens! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteFour hot dogs!!!?? If Michael and I had been there that would have only been 1.25 per person. Wait, i think I messed up the math on that one. 1.33?
ReplyDeleteAm I a horrible person if I laughed at the idea of your scarfing down four hot dogs? Too, too funny, and I sympathize at your next day running pain. Been there, done that, though it was tofu hot dogs, and trust me: those imitation meats can really tear up the belly. Hang in there--crappy training runs are a sign of an upcoming PR (at least that's what I always tell myself, lol).
ReplyDeleteActually, I kinda intended it to be funny Cinthia - but people took it too seriously, ha. Oh well.
DeleteYo Brother Jim,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to May and How U B???? Sending Positive Vibes Your Way