14 miles of 90% humidity

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This mornings 14 miler was an OK long run. I did this one on my own for most of it this time. My girls long runs have been moved to Monday's by the coach so they just did a short run this morning with each other.

It was really humid with 89% according to weather.com. In fact the first 8 miles it was a really fine mist. It stopped for a few miles and picked back up for the last mile.

I carried water and Gatorade with me and drank regularly. This didn't seem to change the run much from last weeks long run when I didn't carry anything. I did take a GU at about 9 miles (note to self - Apple Cinnamon sucks - am I the only one that doesn't really want to taste anything 8+ miles into a run? Why do they make all these crazy flavors..... I would prefer water flavor thank you!)

10 Good miles - Plus 3 hard ones

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This past Sunday was my first half marathon distance long run of the marathon training.  I was looking forward to it, but anxious at the same time.  I was going to be running the first half with my daughters and a friend, and then finishing it off on my own.  My biggest concern was that I was going to go too fast the first 7 miles and then the last 6 miles was going to be brutal.

We walked out the door 6:10 Sunday morning and were walking to meet Sarah.  After a few moments we saw her appear in the dark and we were ready to go.  We started off slow as I always do..... especially on long runs.

After a couple miles Payton started to complain about her foot hurting.  She was playing around the night before running around the yard barefoot and had hurt it a little bit.  After assessing the situation we decided it was best to turn around and head home and let her call it a day.  It continued to hurt her, but started getting better the closer we got to home.  I still insisted that she stop at 4.5 miles and rest and ice her foot.

What Happened To My Hamstring?

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Thursday morning I got up as I have so many times for an early morning run. The run was going good, although very hard (must be all the food I have been eating lately that I shouldn't be) and as planned until the last mile.

My right hamstring started hurting last last 2 tenths of a mile and the last tenth of a mile I could barely walk it hurt so bad. I still had 2 tenths/mile to walk to get back home and it hurt with every step. By the time I got home it started feeling a bit better, but was still hurting the rest of the day.

I am still not really sure what happened but I have a thought. The only real thought that I could come up with was a muscle cramp brought on by a lack of hydration. I have not checked into this at all to see if this is a possibility, but I do know that muscle cramps can be brought on by a lack of hydration, and the way I have been hydrating lately it would be no surprise. The last couple weeks since the marathon I have not been drinking anywhere near enough water, and that coupled with the extra diet soda's that I have been drinking has left me quite dehydrated. I knew this was the case, but was not making the changes that I knew I needed to.

What are your thoughts? Have you had this happen to you before? What did you do when it did?

I have taken the last couple days off and plan to take at least a couple more days off. Following the first day my leg felt much better but is still not 100% and I can feel a twinge when I flex the hamstring muscle. I want to make sure I give it enough rest to resist long term injury, although it is hard because I really want to get out and run.

I hope this is not something that sticks with me for a long time..... :(

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow this blog - twitter-virtual4now