Thursday, October 13th 2011

Swim:  3,600 meters – main set was 6 x 500 every other at race pace
later in the afternoon..
Run:  3:06  (26km)
Core:  45 minutees

Comments:
I had a good swim – good feel for the water, but I forgot my speedo.  I had to swim in my running shorts (skin tight running shorts)  the shorts were ok in the water, but as they are not meant to be for swimming they were heavy and my hips were low in the water. 

I went to the office and worked then later in the afternoon drove to the desert to do my 3 hour run. 

Again, stupid preparation …. I was too rushed and my mind was on the office so I didnt prepare well.  When I arrived to where I run, I realized I had forgotten my water bottle holder….and I had a 3 hour run on my schedule.
So I decided to try something … I tucked two water bottles into my 2XU tri shorts (the shorts are compression and tight, thus the water bottles sort of fit)

It took a few minutes to get used to running with water bottles in my shorts, but I got into it.

If you have followed my training blog and watch the videos … then you know I can not run.  I am terribly slow, and have no form.

My goal was to run 30km in 3 hours…which is about the average I did in Austria and last week.
the road has 2km markers so could I track my pace around the 8km mark I fell behind the pace I wanted to run.

I had one water bottle tucked in the front of my shorts and another tucked in the back.  Around the 8km mark, I decided to put one bottle on the side of the road for when I was running back.
I gambled that I would be ok with only one water bottle until I was on my return.

Around the 13th km, my sole water bottle had long ago been drunk … and I was dead thirsty thinking about how i was going to make it back to my water bottle  suddenly, a big fancy white pick up truck drove by me, and then turned around and pulled up next to me. 

The man in the car was a local emirati.  He didnt say a word, just smiled and as I ran past him he handed me a fresh bottle of cold water. 
Like a gift from God and or Giovanni..  (when I have special, crazy good luck I always think of Giovanni, my brother like best friend who died in a car crash – and I think to myself “thank you Giovanni.”)

I thanked the kind gentleman as I took the water bottle and kept running – I drank the entire water bottle in a few seconds as I ran.

I had a good run, just very slow.  My legs were stiff from the day before, and I was probably dehydrated. 
30 minutes after the man had stopped to give me water, I had become very thirsty once again … when suddnely, another Emirati man pulled on the side, parked his car and got out of his car to hand me a freezing cold bottle of water — I thanked him, took the bottle and drank it as I kept running.

Thank you Giovanni.

Finally, I was back to my water bottle — it was warm and tasted like crap … I tucked it in my shorts and kept running (I had the two empty plastic water bottles which I had drunk  tucked in my shorts as well)
The sun set and it became pitch black.  I ran the last 20 miunutes in total darkness.

For a portion of the run, I had a strong head wind.  It was hot in the beginning, with the sun still in the sky, but once it set, the temperature was perfect.

After my run, I drove 30 minutes back home and did 45 minutes of core training.
I didnt want to do core – I knew I wouldnt want to do it … so before my run, I told Sophie that no matter what happens during my run; no matter how tired I am when I come back, make sure I do core.
I had a fairly good core session considering I had just run for 3 hours.

My legs feel good, but a bit stiff.  After naseba7 challenge – I am going to learn how to run properly.  Looking at my videos and how poorly I run – just goes to show how much of an sportsman that I am NOT.
…but I have to make it happen.

Today, I have a 6 hour bike and 2 hour run.