Fourteen weeks until the WDW Marathon! Here is what i’ve been up to and what not!
The last week has been horrible when it comes to my running. Why? The weather has not been my friend, heck it hasn’t been anyone’s friend. Here in NC we hit our 12 straight days of rain today, Monday. Combine the rain and my favorite trail closing and being pushed to the roads to run, I now have a problem. My husband has vetoed me from running on the road in this weather. I understand why, even though i’m stubborn and don’t want to. People drive like lunatics in good weather and are even worse in the rain. It’s all about safety. When you don’t have sidewalks it is just not as safe to run on the shoulder of the road in rainy weather, especially country roads where people drive much faster than they should. I have been researching different areas to run but i’ve come up with a whole lotta nothing that is nearby.
At this point i’m frustrated. I want to run and i’m stressing about how i’m going to get my miles in as I was rolling a big huge ZERO miles for the week come Sunday morning. I finally decided to drive across town to get some miles in. In Fayetteville they have a great paved trail that runs along the Cape Fear River, the Cape Fear River Trail. From trailhead to trailhead it is 8ish miles, they have extended the trail though too and it is over 10 now, well something like that. It would work, definitely better than nothing.
After I left my house I discovered I forgot my Garmin. Ahhh! I decided i’d be ok, there is an app for that. I started out with my Garmin Fit App. After the 1st mile it wasn’t giving me alerts so I added my Nike+ app. At mile 2 the Garmin app decided to quit. Then I noticed my apps were no where close to what the trail was marked. So much for technology. I’ve heard about this running without technology though and how freeing it is. Well it wasn’t for me. I have always run with a Garmin and i’ve been running close to 10 years now. I really rely on it. I tried though. In the end it just wasn’t for me.
My run was far from my best. I was hoping for better but it just wasn’t happening. I have decided I need to replace my shoes. No ands, ifs, or buts. The tread is disappearing and I slipped and almost fell on my ass about a half dozen times. I love wearing minimals and Merrell’s have been my go-to shoe but their selection of women shoes has dwindled over the years and they no longer make the shoe i’ve worn the past few years. I have tried a few pairs of neutral running shoes but they just haven’t worked for me in the long run. I really have no clue what i’m going to get, only that it needs to be 0 drop.
So forgetting my Garmin and other tech issues, running in the rain and slipping what else could there be to make this a crazy run. How about a downed tree? Yep, that happened to at the 2 mile point. Took a minute or two to access the situation and decided to climb over it. I was getting my run done.
As my run went on there were no other obstacles it was a very basic run. I will say I did not fuel like I normally do. I barely touched my water or my Nuun. I took one gel when I was a bit past half way. When I finished I felt okay other than being bothered by not knowing how far I had actually gone or my pace. I drove the about 45 minutes home, got home showered, and went about my day. I sat down and ate a yogurt and then got up to make some cupcakes with Lil Miss. That’s when it happened. As soon as I got in the kitchen calf cramps hit in both of my calves. My husband massaged them out for me some and then I put my compression sleeves and ate some pickles. I would have never guessed that the cramps would have taken so long after my run to hit but they did. I put the blame entirely on myself too. I know my body. I am a “salty runner” and even though I didn’t feel like I needed it I needed to properly fuel and hydrate during my run to prevent these situations.
I am hoping the rain really does clear up and I can get back to my regular schedule this week. If not I will be spending more time in the garage with weights. Today we are getting a new bar. It is lighter so the kids can use it and it will help me with my form. Well that is the plan. Then, later this week I get to see my foot doctor again for a follow up. I’m really not sure how that is going to go. As for my big toe I can now finally bend it but it does not bend like my other toe. As for pain it only bothers me after long runs. I’ll let y’all know how that goes next week.
What do you do on rainy days when you need to run?