Day Twenty Nine - Something I Learned About My Nipples
Headed home to Connecticut on Saturday to see my family. After having lunch I took a drive with my dad to measure some distance for a run. We headed out from his house to the West Hartford Resevior. I had wanted to run 8 miles and we figured out the resevoir was 3.6 miles from his place. The drive seemed REALLY long and all of a sudden 7.2 miles seemed like a long enough run for the day. After all, my Team mentor DID tell me not to overdo things on my own, didn't he? We took a slightly different route back to the house and the final mileage ended up at 7.6. He suggested a different turn that could add a tenth or two on the way out to the resevior as well. I got changed and started running.
The first half of the run felt great. It was hot and there were a lot of hills, but I was wisely going at a very controlled pace and I had prepared myself for the terrain during the drive. Plus it felt good heading up all the hills knowing I would be coming down them on the way home. About two miles or so into the run I realized that the t-shirt I was wearing might be a problem as it started...well, for lack of a better term, chaffing my nipples. Something to note for the future, I figured.
The last stretch up to the resevior was all uphill and it was a pretty tough stretch, but I kept my (slow) pace and felt pretty good once I got to the top. Ran another half mile or so to the entrance, then turned around. As soon as I did I felt the sun strongly on my back. It was great as I hadn't worked up quite the sweat I would have liked to at this point and I was hoping that some moisture on the shirt might provide some relief to my teats. I started heading down the hill, letting my momentum do most of the work, conserving as much energy as possible and regaining my breath (FWIW, three in, three out the whole way - worked out really well).
Things leveled out at the bottom of the hill and that was my first inkling that something was wrong. My legs had stiffened a bit on the downhill and I just couldn't seem to loosen up. I was BARELY jogging at this point and the though of picking up the pace seemed ludicrous with over 3 miles to go. I told myself that stopping was not an option and I believed this. I kept moving despite the fact that things started to feel like one of those dreams where you run but can't get anywhere.
Somewhere around the 5 and half mile mark I officially crapped out. It was the first time since I started training that I felt like I had to stop and walk. I probably should have but I guess I would rather hobble along like a moron than stop and walk for a quarter mile. I just kept thinking that I hadn't even gone a quarter of a marathon yet and how screwed I would be if this happened on race day. Granted, I will be better trained by then, but I guess my rationalle was that if I couldn't do 7.5 today, how on earth would I ever do 26.2?
There was a long stretch of about a mile on the same road that I thought would never end. Finally I hit the 6.5 mile mark and knowing I was that close to home...didn't really change anything. I was done. I did walk a few steps as I crossed New Britain Ave., but then started running again as I got to the other side, trying to push myself to a halfway respectable pace. I was able to finish running, but barely. I figure with the few changes to course that I ran approximately 7.75 miles. Took me an hour and 28 minutes, which is about 11 minutes and 35 seconds a mile.
Now, there are a lot of things I could talk about learning from this run. About pacing and about hills and about taking the days off that Team recommends before a long run. All of those things added to the overall "bad" feeling I had for most of the run, but the thing that most stood out to me was the fact that my nipples were at this point KILLING me. I took a look expecting the worst, but honestly, they didn't look all that bad. A little red, I guess, but I couldn't believe that the level of discomfort I was feeling wouldn't be accompanied by something REALLY tough to look at. I honestly probably wouldn't even mention it if it wasn't for the conversation I had yesterday with my Uncle Guy. Guy is a health NUT and has been really into marathons and triathalons for the past few years. We got to talking and he was really pleased that I had decided to run a marathon (he's running Vegas in December so if he comes to Phoenix in January it will probably only be to run the half - what a baby). We got to talking about Team, training and my diet (yeah, really gotta address that and soon - yogurt for breakfast this morning was a good start I think) and he mentioned that his nipples get really sensitive and that he shaves his chest and puts bandaids over them on long runs. This did not seem like a great idea to me, but he also mentioned that Vaseline works too. On your upper thighs as well.
THANK GOD. Thank God I'm not the only one with crazy sensitive runners nipple and thank God there is not one, but two possible solutions to the problem. So, if you see me putting vaseline on my nipples in the near future, don't get any crazy ideas. I'm just going running. Probably.
Want to apologize to those who have donated and haven't received a personal thank you from me. Fired up my laptop on Friday night to take care of that and the peice of shit died on me...for the second time in 6 months. I hate computers. Problem is being solved though. In the meantime, thank you thank you thank you for your generosity. It has been incredible. Thanks to Greg and Melissa (who brought me right up to $1000.00) just a few minutes ago. You guys rule. Thanks again.
More later...
DAY 29
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 7.75
TOTAL MILEAGE: 64.75
The first half of the run felt great. It was hot and there were a lot of hills, but I was wisely going at a very controlled pace and I had prepared myself for the terrain during the drive. Plus it felt good heading up all the hills knowing I would be coming down them on the way home. About two miles or so into the run I realized that the t-shirt I was wearing might be a problem as it started...well, for lack of a better term, chaffing my nipples. Something to note for the future, I figured.
The last stretch up to the resevior was all uphill and it was a pretty tough stretch, but I kept my (slow) pace and felt pretty good once I got to the top. Ran another half mile or so to the entrance, then turned around. As soon as I did I felt the sun strongly on my back. It was great as I hadn't worked up quite the sweat I would have liked to at this point and I was hoping that some moisture on the shirt might provide some relief to my teats. I started heading down the hill, letting my momentum do most of the work, conserving as much energy as possible and regaining my breath (FWIW, three in, three out the whole way - worked out really well).
Things leveled out at the bottom of the hill and that was my first inkling that something was wrong. My legs had stiffened a bit on the downhill and I just couldn't seem to loosen up. I was BARELY jogging at this point and the though of picking up the pace seemed ludicrous with over 3 miles to go. I told myself that stopping was not an option and I believed this. I kept moving despite the fact that things started to feel like one of those dreams where you run but can't get anywhere.
Somewhere around the 5 and half mile mark I officially crapped out. It was the first time since I started training that I felt like I had to stop and walk. I probably should have but I guess I would rather hobble along like a moron than stop and walk for a quarter mile. I just kept thinking that I hadn't even gone a quarter of a marathon yet and how screwed I would be if this happened on race day. Granted, I will be better trained by then, but I guess my rationalle was that if I couldn't do 7.5 today, how on earth would I ever do 26.2?
There was a long stretch of about a mile on the same road that I thought would never end. Finally I hit the 6.5 mile mark and knowing I was that close to home...didn't really change anything. I was done. I did walk a few steps as I crossed New Britain Ave., but then started running again as I got to the other side, trying to push myself to a halfway respectable pace. I was able to finish running, but barely. I figure with the few changes to course that I ran approximately 7.75 miles. Took me an hour and 28 minutes, which is about 11 minutes and 35 seconds a mile.
Now, there are a lot of things I could talk about learning from this run. About pacing and about hills and about taking the days off that Team recommends before a long run. All of those things added to the overall "bad" feeling I had for most of the run, but the thing that most stood out to me was the fact that my nipples were at this point KILLING me. I took a look expecting the worst, but honestly, they didn't look all that bad. A little red, I guess, but I couldn't believe that the level of discomfort I was feeling wouldn't be accompanied by something REALLY tough to look at. I honestly probably wouldn't even mention it if it wasn't for the conversation I had yesterday with my Uncle Guy. Guy is a health NUT and has been really into marathons and triathalons for the past few years. We got to talking and he was really pleased that I had decided to run a marathon (he's running Vegas in December so if he comes to Phoenix in January it will probably only be to run the half - what a baby). We got to talking about Team, training and my diet (yeah, really gotta address that and soon - yogurt for breakfast this morning was a good start I think) and he mentioned that his nipples get really sensitive and that he shaves his chest and puts bandaids over them on long runs. This did not seem like a great idea to me, but he also mentioned that Vaseline works too. On your upper thighs as well.
THANK GOD. Thank God I'm not the only one with crazy sensitive runners nipple and thank God there is not one, but two possible solutions to the problem. So, if you see me putting vaseline on my nipples in the near future, don't get any crazy ideas. I'm just going running. Probably.
Want to apologize to those who have donated and haven't received a personal thank you from me. Fired up my laptop on Friday night to take care of that and the peice of shit died on me...for the second time in 6 months. I hate computers. Problem is being solved though. In the meantime, thank you thank you thank you for your generosity. It has been incredible. Thanks to Greg and Melissa (who brought me right up to $1000.00) just a few minutes ago. You guys rule. Thanks again.
More later...
DAY 29
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 7.75
TOTAL MILEAGE: 64.75
posted by Demps at 7:03 AM
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