Finished up "Half Marathon Week" today. Started on Tuesday of last week due to personal schedule not really allowing a Monday start. 13.1 miles a day is a good chunk of mileage, but its not anything insane. That said, this was super challenging due to family obligations, work schedule, travel, etc. I originally chose this past week partly due to the fact that I had work travel and its typically easier to run when I'm on the road b/c I don't have family stuff...and I'd rather be on the trails than sitting in a hotel anyway. Then my colleague decided to schedule multiple work dinners, which made things less than ideal. I also figured I'd get to run several of these half marathons on trails, which would keep things more interesting and be easier on the body for recovery. Here's a quick breakdown on the week:
Pre-start: We spend Memorial Day weekend Camping in Big Bend. Drove back on memorial day, got home somewhat late, unpacked, did laundry, re-packed, and got a short night's sleep.
Day 1: Headed to the airport and flew to el paso. Straight from the plane to work meetings. After meetings wrapped up, I had a customer happy hour/dinner. Its one of my biggest customers, so I could really skip. They also like to have drinks. We ended up at a place that is basically a wings restaurant, customer's choice. I had 3 beers, 1 shot of tequila, some nachos, couple jalapeno poppers, couple wings, and other random bar food. Finally got back to the hotel after 9p. Almost considered canceling the entire week. Had zero motivation, but luckily my brother-in-law was also doing this "with" me and he'd already done his first run. It was around or after 10p by the time I started the run. As you can imagine, the dinner and drinks don't exactly scream "great run nutrition." So I ended up running a bunch of short loops around downtown El Paso due to some GI distress. Felt terrible for a lot of the run. Finished around midnight if I remember correctly. Probably fell asleep somewhere around 1:30a.
Day 2: I had to start work around 7a since I was on mountain time and had work stuff on central time. Obviously did not get much sleep. Another full day of meetings, then we headed 45 minutes outside El Paso to a steakhouse for another customer dinner. Meal was steak and baked potato. I ordered the smallest steak I could, at the baked potato, and avoided any additional sides. I also had three beers, but figured I had plenty of time before I had to run, so might as well join in with my customer for a few beverages. Got back to the hotel after 9p. Thought about every way I could possibly bail on this stupid challenge, but figured if I could get through this second one, it would only get easier (lol). Left from downtown and run uphill to some of the neighborhoods closer to the mountains. Ran up a dirt road to the top of a smaller mountain, circled around and then went back up and to the hotel. Kept the pace pretty easy, but I actually felt pretty good. Finished somewhere around midnight again, in bed around 1a.
Day 3: I was able to sleep a touch longer, but had a breakfast meeting with a partner. It was suppose to end at 9a, but ran long, as these things do. Finally got back to the hotel a bit before 10a, changed clothes and headed to the paved path along the Rio Grande. Fairly short turnaround. I had originally hoped to do this one on trails, but I had a smaller window before my flight. Ended up doing an out and back on the path. 100% exposed and nowhere to refill water. I only had two bottles on me, ran out of water, and it was 102 degrees by the time I finished. I rushed back to the hotel, showered, threw my stuff in the suitcase, and raced to the airport. Luckily, the El Paso airport is pretty chill. Once I got to the airport, I got the notification that my flight was delayed. So I changed my flight to a "later" flight that was direct to Austin, but now landed at the same time. It was more than 4 hours out, so I couldn't check my bag. Jumped on a work call while I waited and my phone started blowing up with more delays. Ended up changing flights two more times and ultimately ended up back on a flight connecting in Dallas, which was a gamble. Landed in Dallas, turned my phone on, and got the notification that my flight (and all other flights) into Austin was canceled. It was almost 9p and I didn't feel like searching for a hotel, so I called a friend who lives fairly close. We went to get food and beers, and I crashed at his place.
Day 4: After a terrible night sleep, I was back at the airport. Flew back to austin, drove home, took a couple work calls. Wife had an event with my older daughter in the evening, so I had the three year old. She wanted to go get pizza, and I can't tell her no...especially after just being gone for four days. So we got pizza, but I tried not to eat too much. Got home, helped get both kids in bed, and then headed out for another night run. For whatever reason, I felt great and ran my fastest half of this little challenge. I didn't run any of them "fast," but this one just felt easy. I finished up about 10:30p, shower, and was in bed before midnight.
Day 5: Wife and older daughter had another event, so once again, I had the 3 year old. She slept longer than expected, so we got a much later start than I was hoping. We headed out to brush creek with the running stroller. I pushed her in the stroller and any time we passed a playground, she got to get out and play while I chugged water, wrang out my shirt, and shoved calories down my throat. Let's just say I might have been more happy than she was when we saw playgrounds. I somehow always forget how much harder running is with a stroller. We finished around 1 pm and it was blazing hot. I calculated that I drank almost 2 gallons of fluids during the run.
Day 6: Wife had brunch plans with a friend, so I had both kids in the morning. They wanted to play outside, so I sat outside with them trying not to sweat too much. Wife got home, and then we had to head to a kid's party, but at least it was at a splash pad. The sun and humidity were terrible. Afterwards, the wife wanted to go to a brewery, so I obliged. Couldn't be any worse than the first two days. Had a few beers and some food. Got home and the kids were both tired, so they went to bed early and easily. I actually got out before sunset, which was nice, but also meant it was still hot. After a couple miles, I was already completely soaked with sweat. Made sure my route went by water fountains to refill fluids. Two different cars almost hit me in the neighborhood, one even rolled their window down and yelled at me, even though it was their fault. The other decided to blow through a stop sign as I was crossing the road. Finished up around 10:30 and immediately started the process of trying to replace fluids, knowing I had a short turn around before my final run.
Day 7: Terrible night sleep due to a faulty smoke detector that I eventually just had to turn off. Wife didn't get up for her workout, so I ended up sleeping later than I meant to b/c I was counting on her getting up to wake me up. Left later than I wanted. I immediately struggled. Mentally, I just didn't want to be running. It was insanely humid and I could tell it was going to get hot. My mind kept wandering to how I could get out of this final run. Or how I could split it up and find a treadmill in some air conditioning, which really says something b/c I HATE treadmills. It was a mental struggle until I was about to hit mile 11. At that point, I knew I only had two miles left and I'd be done. I heard my watch beep for mile 11, looked down and read "mile 10." I had somehow convinced myself I was farther along than I actually was. That pretty much ruined me mentally. I just started walking. Luckily, I turned and there was a breeze blowing on a downhill section. The combination got me to run again. I made it down to a water fountain, took a quick break, answered some work emails, and then headed out on the final couple miles. Finished it out, and I've never been so happy to know I have a rest day tomorrow.
I ended up doing all 7 days on the road, which did not help my mental state. Four of the seven were at night. I actually like running at night, but the dinners and such were not conducive to longer runs. And the early mornings didn't help either. I could have altered some of my family stuff to make it easier on me, but family comes first so running had to be squeezed in where it could. Overall, muscularly, I felt fine the whole time. Lack of sleep definitely impacted things. Head/humidity definitely impacted things. This little challenge was way more mentally taxing than physically taxing. I'm sure it'd be way easier to do in December or January, but I'm doing a summer race, so it is what it is. I'm ready to have a few beers tonight and not run tomorrow.