Training Makes A Difference!

I learned an important lesson this weekend.  Training matters!  A lot!! 

I felt pretty amazing running my 1/2, even though I had injury issues, conditioning wise it felt pretty easy to run.  Up to my mental issues on the water front anyway, but that was in my head and not really anything to do with my body, ok other than the muscle cramps.  But, still I felt pretty good overall. 

Yesterday I felt like crap by mile 3 and wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.  So, putting in the miles and training appropriately really matters!  Plus 10 miles trail running is WAY different than 10 miles road running for sure!  What little running I did should have been on trails!

I also learned the value of electrolytes and really need to work on my hydration situation when I go on longer runs.  I'm always scared I'll have to pee during the race if I drink too much, or that I'll get a migraine if what I drink has too much potassium.  So I opt for a few sips, if that, and most of the time don't drink anything at all. 

Not good.  The fact that my first drink of Gatorade made my vision not be blurry and not be all black was new running/training information for me.  I will have to be better about drinking the right thing at the right time.

The great thing is that while my knees hurt a bit from all the downhill I feel pretty great today.  I remember hitting 10 miles during my 1/2 training and not being able to walk the next day.  So some of that conditioning stuck with me at least.

Given that I already know July will not give me much time for training runs I have decided not to run a race in July.  I am however going to see about volunteering for a race instead.  I sort of feel like that should count towards my race a month goal for the year.

It's important to give back, and this weekend there were a lot of volunteers that would have liked to have been running.  But, they decided to volunteer to make sure we all had a great experience and had support when needed.  There is a 5K the end of the month at Ft. St. Park, I run there several times a week and do multiple races there every year.  So it seems like a great opportunity to volunteer, give back, and cheer on some runners.  And, in a roundabout way keep my streak alive.