No sleep? No worries!
Today’s 16-mile run of beachfront loops leading back to Buccaneer Beach in Oceanside was going to be a winner. I knew it soon as I woke at 2 a.m. with a tummy ache.
A pattern has emerged this training season. Long runs preceded by little sleep and poor diets have ended up better than those I more carefully plan with ample shut-eye and three square meals. Friday was no exception. I woke at 6 for work after arriving home from New York just several hours earlier. To stay awake, I dined all day on Diet Coke and stale Easter candy, with some mixed nuts, chips and a pepperoni sandwich thrown in to balance out the carbs. Jelly beans…egg-shaped Smarties…speckled malt balls…all were consumed in colossal portions. Why, if I’d thought of it, I’d have gone to the grocery store across the street to load up on stale Peeps too. Instead, I made a pasta salad so the evening would not end as sinfully as it began.
I had trouble falling asleep due to all the crap and caffeinated soda, and I woke too early due to my body not yet readjusted to this time zone. Just before 4 a.m., I began my Saturday morning ritual: Use the bathroom; ‘glide up; dress; go to the bathroom again; turn on the teapot; eat a banana; bathroom; watch The Weather Channel; bathroom; make my one serving of old-fashioned oatmeal with Splenda sprinkled on top; make at least two more trips to the bathroom; grab the car keys; head out the door; stop at Starbuck’s with the carpool to, you guessed it, hit the head one more time; arrive at the start feeling like I need to go yet again (and do!).
It worked. I held a great pace the first eight or nine miles but decided to stick with struggling friends twice on the return, which slowed me but also left plenty of energy for the last few miles when I was on my own again. My legs felt like I’d never covered that distance. Even now, I could go out and run some more.
All this travel has thrown into serious jeopardy my plans to PR in June. But I’m starting to think all I need to run a 4-hour marathon is to host an all-night poker party at my house and serve nothing but junk food up until a few hours before the race. Think it might work?
Yeah, I wouldn’t bet on it either.
A pattern has emerged this training season. Long runs preceded by little sleep and poor diets have ended up better than those I more carefully plan with ample shut-eye and three square meals. Friday was no exception. I woke at 6 for work after arriving home from New York just several hours earlier. To stay awake, I dined all day on Diet Coke and stale Easter candy, with some mixed nuts, chips and a pepperoni sandwich thrown in to balance out the carbs. Jelly beans…egg-shaped Smarties…speckled malt balls…all were consumed in colossal portions. Why, if I’d thought of it, I’d have gone to the grocery store across the street to load up on stale Peeps too. Instead, I made a pasta salad so the evening would not end as sinfully as it began.
I had trouble falling asleep due to all the crap and caffeinated soda, and I woke too early due to my body not yet readjusted to this time zone. Just before 4 a.m., I began my Saturday morning ritual: Use the bathroom; ‘glide up; dress; go to the bathroom again; turn on the teapot; eat a banana; bathroom; watch The Weather Channel; bathroom; make my one serving of old-fashioned oatmeal with Splenda sprinkled on top; make at least two more trips to the bathroom; grab the car keys; head out the door; stop at Starbuck’s with the carpool to, you guessed it, hit the head one more time; arrive at the start feeling like I need to go yet again (and do!).
It worked. I held a great pace the first eight or nine miles but decided to stick with struggling friends twice on the return, which slowed me but also left plenty of energy for the last few miles when I was on my own again. My legs felt like I’d never covered that distance. Even now, I could go out and run some more.
All this travel has thrown into serious jeopardy my plans to PR in June. But I’m starting to think all I need to run a 4-hour marathon is to host an all-night poker party at my house and serve nothing but junk food up until a few hours before the race. Think it might work?
Yeah, I wouldn’t bet on it either.
