View Workout (Joe Uhan)

Return to Log

FL - Guana State Preserve - grind long run

March 3, 2019 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: mostly sunny, fairly humid, HOT (80s)

Comments:
Woke up fairy early. I didn’t sleep well. I ate too much dairy: I shouldn’t have had this key lime pie that the neighbor made. Goddamnit. I did, and it kept me up until 1:30 in the morning (when I pounded another allegra). Slept OK, then, and got up around 7:30. Thank goodness for the nap yesterday.

It was going to be hot, and unfortunately, we didn’t get a very early start. I had to roll and stretch quite a bit. Hips were OK; ankles were way better than yesterday , thanks to the tons of rolling and stretching I did last night.
Drove to St. Augustine, to the beach and to Guana park, near where Courtney and Bert got married in 2017. There’s some awesome trails in a big, flat peninsula between the mainland and the beach highway.

It was a tough, but good run. We did 15-plus miles, and pretty grindy on flat but soft and winding trails.

On the plus side:
*The trails were in pretty good shape: only bits of soft sand and/or mud
*There was decent shade
*Tons of trail variety! We did a six mile, six mile and three-plus mile loop, and only half of it repeated
*We were able to stop for short water breaks, twice, which was crucial.
*I completed the whole distance, and it wasn’t that terrible.

On the not-plus side:
*I felt HORRIBLE, at first. This was mostly the dairy, I think (and a bit of the chelation hangover). It was so bad that I could barely muster a flat ten-minute mile. It’s nuts: once again, this highlights the power of this internal physiological struggle.
*I never felt very good. I came around, then had a bad patch and nearly quit at six. Then I felt better, but thought I’d quit at 12, but I hung in there.
*Hips were OK, but the right ankle was pissed at the end.
*It was hot…but I kind of liked it!

So all in all, a net positive. CA had deadbutt again – about 10 miles into 15. I’m pretty convinced it’s nerve/lumbar stability (and maybe neck?) with moderately fast running. She did this thing – again – where we find out that something I thought was straight forward, she was doing differently/incorrectly. Today: we talked about keeping pelvis/lumbar neutral but “not tensing”. What I meant was, you have to sustain the position without a global, bracing tension. What she meant: “no tension” = not actually holding the position. That’s the weird thing about core stability: you have to “assume the position” with a minimal strength, but without massive over-tensing. She, seemingly, wasn’t doing enough (trying to be completely relaxed). Fast running: stable pelvis + strong hip extension!

She stopped to stretch and was better for couple miles, before it came back again. We grinded mid-7s until mile 12ish, then slightly slowed (to 8-flat) for the final three.

TOUGH run, but I felt pretty good afterward. No intense fatigue or super-stiffness.

Post-run: Florida Life:
* drove 15 minutes to Villano Beach to the publix for food
* laid out at the beach – getting just enough sun for a moderate sunburn (thank god I “knew” when it was too much, and we got out!)
* showered at the beach
* met CA’s parents, and we drove up the road to this cool restaurant on the water. Had a big Hoen family meal with relaxing beers in the 80-degree afternoon. Pretty great!

Good day. Not perfect, but progress.