run the Goofy Challenge

Goofy starts in less than 3 days!

Less than two week now. My last 10 runs have averaged 17 miles each. I didn’t realized this until now…but it sounds insane!

I’m lookin’ forward to having a health couple of days of running the Goofy Challenge.

After a difficult 14 miles yesterday morning, I had no intention of another struggling run today. I did plan for a good healthy run.

My Goofy Plan calls for 10 miles today to kickoff week #4 of the plan. Yep, I’m showing up!

It’s just as humid at 7 AM as yesterday, but the sky is hazy. The sun was trying to burn through, but not making much progress.

My Ascis were still wet this morning so I laced up my Nikes. I don’t like them as much as the Ascis because I get a blister on my big left toe when I do long miles, but it’s better than wearing wet shoes.

I’m carrying a liter of water with me. Same as yesterday, but 4-miles less to go today. My legs are in good shape this morning. I just have to mentally get into it. Showing up at the trail with my shoes on is 70% of the mental part.

Good run. I didn’t struggle. Didn’t get over heated. I took 30 second walk breaks at each mile after re-reading some Jeff Galloway stuff last night.

The humidity was strong. My 1 liter was gone by mile 8 so I refilled at the trusty “non-mirage” fountain I found yesterday. With 2-miles left I could hear thunder rumbling in the distrance. I was already completely soaked with sweat so I thought some rain would be ok. It didn’t rain.

Finished 10-miles exactly according to my Garmin Forerunner 201. That makes a new month distance record of 125 miles!

Did an iRun podcast while I was out running too.

Even a 7 AM start didn’t keep today’s 14 miles from being incredibly hot and difficult. Hell must be REALLY hot!

Jumping into the middle of the story…I willed this water fountain to not be a mirage at mile 11. I was out of water and struggling from the heat. Almost naked, I was sweating so much my left shoe was squishy with sweat. Humidity must have been over 99% with a temperature of 120F! Ok, maybe it was only 80% with 85F, but I was really heated up.

I ran an out and back on a local bike trail this morning. Running south from one of my favorite starting spots. A nice 9 min/mi pace for the first 4 miles. Didn’t need to drink any of my 32 oz of water I was carrying. A lot running in the shade though the humidity was high already. A lovely time up to this point.

As the miles added up, the sun got higher and I got hotter. Started drinking my water and getting sweat in my eyes. Still plenty of shade to find on the trail. At the turn around at 7 miles I was still feeling great. No problems.

My pace was getting slower as I ran in the sun with a 10:12 pace for mile 9 (or was that mile 10?) and my shirt came off. I was really getting hot. My legs were fine, but I couldn’t get them to move very fast as it was hard to get a full breath. I was really sweating and out of water.

Water fountain wasn’t a mirage! I refilled my bottle, rinsed by cap AND drank some water. The final few miles were a combo of running and walking and running and walking. I could run in the shade just fine, but the sun was over heating me.

In the end, I completed my scheduled 14 miles to finish successfully week #3 of my Goofy Plan.

I’m scheduled to kick off week #4 with a 10 miler tomorrow morning! Weather forecast is for hot weather. :)

With the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge (1/2 marathon on Saturday and full marathon on Sunday) only 6-months away, I decided to design my official Goofy Plan 2007!

Here’s a link to it:

http://arthurvance.blogspot.com/2006/07/best-damn-goofy-plan_12.html