Date: 10/23/21
Training Day: 40
Miles: 7
Shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 21
Weather: Overcast, low 40s, breezy

How It Felt: The run was meh at best, and in the commentary I will tell you why.

Commentary: After epically and coldly failing at my mountain bike support for my friend’s 50k, I had quite a busy day. I had PT at 7am, and then I had to get my blood drawn at 9am. This meant I didn’t eat until after my blood draw, after getting up at 3am and kicking my own ass on my mountain bike and then doing an hour of PT.

After the blood draw I met with my mentor for the land survey program I’m starting in January. Then I went by a home gym supply store to check out their wares. Before scraping the old sealant off the campervan’s vent fan and applying new sealant, I managed to get a 30-minute nap in. Somewhere in there I shoved a Totino’s pizza in my face.

The hubster and I had time for a quick lunch before going to help another friend move at 5:30pm. That kept us busy until 9pm, which seemed like the perfect time to go grocery shopping. I didn’t feel like just getting home and going to bed because that’s what I usually do, so we stayed up until almost midnight watching a movie. And I stuffed my face with orange chicken, real chicken.

At 8am this morning I startled awake because it was bright in the bedroom. I wondered around the house like a zombie, trying to convince myself to get ready for my long run. I had no energy and no motivation, but I managed to get my poop in a group and out to Boat Launch Park.

This park is my spot of choice to get a trail-like run in that’s close. It takes less than 20 minutes to get there, is fairly flat, and has a nice gravel road to run around. Aside from feeling tired, I was especially dreading my run because it was windy.

Heading out along the river felt okay, probably because I had a tailwind. As soon as I turned around the wind howled across my ears and slowed me down. It felt absolutely fucking miserable. Physically, I felt okay, but mentally, it was draining. Tailwind – feel great! Headwind – am I moving? I started exploring different areas, trying to see if I could escape from the wind, or at least get a crosswind, but no luck.

To add to the mental mind fuck was the fact that today’s run was mileage-based instead of time-based. There were moments where I was pushing myself harder than I should have because I just wanted to get the miles over with. This is why I don’t like running for miles.

Still, by the end of the run I felt pretty good physically. And as soon as I stopped running my mind cleared, I felt like my normal self again.

I’m not sure if some of the physical stuff was doing being so tired from the last few days, or from eating like shit yesterday, or both. I really need to get exhausted and eat like shit on two different days for research purposes. This two-in-one thing makes it hard to identify a potential cause for my sluggishness.

Anyway, now I’m going back and forth about whether I should continue to run at Boat Launch Park. Now that winter is on its way the wind will not cease for months. Should I find a new place to save myself from mental mind fuck, or should I keep going to mentally prepare myself the potential adverse conditions of an ultra?

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