Week 8 Complete! Time For Some Recovery

Week 8 was another buildup week which included back-to-back runs of 10 and 20 miles.  Back in week 2, I thought back-to-back runs of 4 and 14 miles were more difficult than expected. Then In week 4, I thought 6/16 miles was also more difficult than it should have been.  But then 8/18 was even harder, and 10/20 took a lot of fortitude.  In retrospect, 4/14 was easy.

I ran the 10-miler on Friday with a friend, using a 3:30/1:30 run/walk cadence.  I expected that increasing the walk period from 60 to 90 seconds would leave me feeling great after 10 miles.  It did not go that way.  I still felt sore and fatigued late Friday, wondering how I was going to feel the next morning.  I had run my two weekday runs (7 and 3 miles) a bit faster than normal, and my 10 miler the previous weekend was also faster than normal.  Perhaps cumulative fatigue from running faster than I needed to was taking its toll.  

 

Saturday, October 29, was the first cold morning of the late fall season.  It was 65°F for Friday’s run and 35°F Saturday when I set foot outside.  That added a new complexities to the logistics of long runs, having to carefully choose the layers of clothing to wear, knowing that whatever I set out with I would be carrying for 4 hours.  Fortunately, I chose wisely and was temperature-comfortable for the duration of the run.  

 

I set out to run/walk at a 3/2-minute ratio.  In the early going, I shortened the walk segments if my heart rate went below 100 bpm during the walk segment.  That strategy lasted about 10 miles, after that my HR never went below 100 bpm.  My average pace during the first 10 miles was about 12:00 min/mile, surprisingly slower than I expected.  But I was okay with that if that would allow me to complete 20 miles without too much trouble.  

 

With my heart rate staying above 100 BPM, I switched to timed walking segments of 90-120 seconds.  That got me through the next 4 miles at about the same average pace.  After 14 miles I started to exceed my maximum HR, at which point I stopped and walked regardless of time.  After 17 miles I switched to a 1/1-minute run/walk ratio.  My legs and hips were sore and tight by this time, so the 1/1 ration was as much a discomfort-management strategy as much as a means to manage my HR.  That got me to the finish line.

 

Shortly after getting home from my run, I realized that my heart rate was irregular.  I do not know for sure when it started being irregular.  I waited until I completed my post run routine before checking my ECG to confirm, but I started feeling “odd” soon after I got home.  That was a big disappointment.  I hadn’t had any irregular heart rate issues in over a month.  The rest of the day I spent questioning whether I could complete the Dopey Challenge, and if I should even try.  

 

By evening I was back in normal sinus rhythm and ready to take on the world again.  But that question still lingered.  Week 8 was a milestone week with 40 miles total.  I intentionally planned for two recovery weeks before I set out for another buildup week.  So, I tried to put week 8 behind me and focus on letting my body recover and prepare for the next challenge three weeks later.  In addition to heart rate issues, I still need to manage my hip pain and knee pain, both of which flared up after the 20-miler.   But not worse than I had experienced throughout the past 6 months, so I am confident I can manage by sticking to my strength and stretching routines.