Maybe you can help me troubleshoot my run

I had a rough run this morning. It could have something to do with one or all of the following reasons. I thought I would put this out here and see if anyone has any suggestions.

I ran 4 days in a row last week. To finish off the running frenzy I ran a race on Saturday. I also recorded my longest single week of running since I started running just over 2 years ago with 32.2 miles. Normally I run 18 to 22 miles in a week.

It could also have to do with the fact that I have been doing some great running lately. Anything less than a great run seems tough when you are coming off of a running high like I have had.

However, I think the biggest possible culprit might have to do with what I ate last night. Normally we have supper, if we eat much at all, by 5 or 6 in the evening. After church another family invited us to eat dinner with them at the mall food court. This meant that we had a choice of many different restaurants. I decided what I wanted and headed over to the taco joint to grab some tacos. The rest of the group decided on pizza.

I sat down and ate my 3 tacos and 1 gringa and was happily satisfied. Then the pizza arrived. A piece here and there and before I realized it, I had eaten 3 pieces. Enough for another meal. This all taking place around 9:00, 3 hours after we normally eat supper.

Our daughter needed something to eat, so we decided on a bag of fries. There was a hamburger place near where we sat. My wife ordered a small fry from them. It was enough to feed everyone at the table. I helped myself to more than my share.

I had at least 3 meals last night.

Is it any wonder why my run seemed almost impossible this morning?

Almost a 6 Km race

Wednesday I learned that there was to be a 6 Km race this morning. The paperwork said that it was an approximate distance. Actual distance ended up being 5.74 Km, or 3.56 miles.

I ran it in 29:48. That is a pace of 8:23 per mile.

I had fun. One of our church people told me about the race since it was her company that was sponsoring it. She and her daughter were at the race as well. The daughter took 3rd in her age group. Yes, there were only 3. She was not the very last person to finish, but the last person was only a few steps behind her. Since she knew she would take 3rd place just by finishing, she stuck it out and finished.

I took 5th place in my division. There were 8 of us. I am not sure what the overall number of runners was.

I ended up this running week with 32.2 miles. That is my longest number of miles in a single week. Like last week, I ran 4 days in a row. That was not planned, but when I learned of the race it was too late to avoid the multiple running days. I will take tomorrow off.

I guess it is time to stop calling her “the baby.”

Our baby turned 4 years old yesterday. It is hard to believe that she is growing up. One of her distinguishable traits is how she comes up with some of the funniest sayings.

A couple of days ago our son was cleaning out the toys that were sunken to the bottom of the pool. He was using the skimmer to fish them out. Our daughter laid down at the edge of the pool and leaned over looking into the water. She cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled to the toys, “Don’t Worry! We will save you!”

A couple of days before that we were in the pool with her in her floaty. I dove under the water and swam away from her. She said to my wife, “Look at that daddy. He thinks he is a whale.” When I swam back towards her she said, “Now he thinks he is a shark.”

Fate of the bananas

I never gave a final update on what happened with the bananas. In short, they were good, but could have been better.

We were out of town when they ripened; or as ripe as bananas get on the plant. They don’t actually ripen until you cut them off. We are not sure when they became mature since we left town for almost 4 weeks. But they were getting close when we left, and were overcooked by the time we got home.

I cut them off on a Sunday morning and started dividing them up to go to friends that day and the next. We hung about 30 up in our kitchen to ripen and then bagged up the rest. We had close to 170 that were usable. Some had burst on the plant from getting too mature.

One family that we had bagged bananas for did not want them, that gave us another 25 or so to eat on our own. We left them in their bag hung on a door. A couple of days later we found that the ones in the bag were ripening faster than those that were hanging. We had read you were supposed to put a bag around the bunch to ripen them, but I thought that was just to keep the bugs out. Turns out, that is part of the ripening process.

Good thing we had visitors. That week we ate all but 3 of the bananas that we kept. They never really turned completely yellow. I think they were just over mature to look quite right.

I told one of our friend’s daughters that the bananas would not turn yellow and that they should start eating them soon. She could not convince her dad that they were supposedly ready. He did not let them eat them for a few more days (in banana terms, that is an eternity). By the time they tried them they were already pretty mushy. They froze them for future use.

Running around

This last week I had a few interesting runs. I was out with a medical team in a smaller town. Fortunately, there were new maps put up on Google Earth for this town. Previously you could only see that there were lines on the ground that could be considered roads. Now there is a pretty good shot of Valladolid, Yucatán, México. There is one pretty opaque cloud to work through, but I guessed on the path of the road during those runs.

Monday
I got up at 3:15 to head to Valladolid and meet the medical team for breakfast. Needless to say, I did not run before leaving town. However, in the afternoon I had some time after playing with the team at a local cenote to take a short run. I wanted to get 8 miles in, but the 95 degree weather impeded that from happening. I would have pressed on, except where I wanted to run was pretty remote and I would not have any way to get water if I needed it.

I still ran 3.8 miles and had a good time by myself.

Tuesday
I had been talking to a few of the doctors who were in our group and I found two dentists who wanted to run with me. We met at 6:00 to try and get some mileage in before having to be cleaned up and leave for breakfast by 6:45. We did 2.31 miles, but we were really pushed for time. Only one dentist showed up.

Wednesday
We decided to head out a little earlier and hit the road at 5:45. That worked out well and we were able to run 3.76 miles.

Thursday
Another dentist was supposed to run with Mike and I, but he chickened out. I was starving when we left the hotel. I usually try to grab a snack the night before that I can eat before heading out in the morning. Since we had gotten home very late Wednesday night, the store was not open to grab a snack.

I was a bit concerned that I would not do too well in the run because of being so hungry. About 3 blocks down the road from our hotel we ran by a tortilla factory. I jumped in and asked the lady if I could have a sample of one. That was enough to knock down the hunger pangs and keep me going.

We ran 3.33 miles then.

This was the first time this year I have run more than 3 days in a row. I have been trying to be conscious of that so that I am not putting un-due stress on my bones and joints. I am still able to run enough each week to make my goals by taking 2 days off.

Sunday
I showed up about 30 minutes before the start of a 5K race. I was ready to register and think about running for a PR. When I got to the race, there were a few people who are at every race. Probably only about 12 people showed up. There was no one to do registration for the event. We decided it was canceled and I just ran 5K at an easy pace. I got home later to find that I had an email telling me the race had been canceled at the last minute without explanation.

Today
I was back to my normal running partner and routine. I ran 6.58 miles. I am perfectly on pace to finish the year at 1000 miles. Now that my traveling is over I will be able to get a bit ahead until mid-summer. All my extra banked miles will come in handy as we get back on the road and travel through the fall.