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As I’ve said on here before, I’m looking to up my mileage for my return to England where I want to be doing 50 miles per week. I wanted to do this in stages - 35 miles last week and 42.5 this. However, because of falling ill on Sunday, I’ve left myself a little short in my planned mileage, logging only a little over 9 miles through the first two days of this week. I’d hoped to do 14.

So, today and Thursday I wanted to make some up that up. I wanted to do 14 miles today. I had two problems - the heat, and fuel. I have a Fuel Belt that was meant to carry 32oz of water, but that must be British ounces because I’ve measured it here (using a cool - pun intended - feature on the refrigerator at my house) and each bottle only carries 6oz. So that’s a pretty paltry 24oz in total - nowhere enough for what I assumed would be a run of approximately two hours.

Moreover, in this heat and humidity running with that belt has given me some gastronomical problems that I’d like to avoid, especially given the problems I’ve had in that area the past couple of days.

So, I figured the smartest thing to do was break it up - run an opening block of seven miles, then come home, refuel, grab the Fuel Belt and then get the next seven done. Seemed like it made sense.

I didn’t have any time goals - as above, around two hours seemed about right, which mean a per mile average of about 8:30. It was unknown territory for me and in this weather I didn’t really know how my body was going to behave beyond a given point.

The first seven miles went pretty well. I started my run just before 9:30am and the weather was a reasonable 80, despite every forecast I could find promising as high as 98 today. As a result, though, it was very humid. That seems to be the payoff for a lower temperature (which obviously makes sense when you think about it).

I got back home at 10:25, drank about 12oz of water, 8oz of Gatorade and 6oz of Coke. I felt pretty good, all things considering. I took a moment to wash the sweat out of my hair and off of my face, changed my shirt (my other one was totally soaked to the point where I’d been ringing the water out of it as I was running) and set off again about ten minutes later.

Miles 8 and 9 were fine. A reasonable pace, and I thought to myself, wow - this is going to be a piece of cake.

By mile 11, I found myself in the middle of a bit of a body meltdown. It started off fairly innocently - my legs got a bit heavy all of a sudden, and my sweat level increased. At 10.69 miles, I stopped thinking I had to urinate, but nothing wanted to come out. At the end of mile 12, I started to really suffer - I was dehydrating really, really bad. My Fuel Belt bottles were empty and right about then I realised I simply had not taken down either enough fluids or not done it consistently enough right from the start. I suddenly felt really, really ill. The heat had risen many degrees and the sweat was pouring off of my body. I had no fluids, and it was a real hands-on-knees moment.

I needed water, and I needed it bad. Problem is, by now I was in the middle of nowhere. I would have had to run back to a Kroger to replenish my Fuel bottles and it sounded better to just keep going.
Which I did, for another three-quarters of a mile. By now, I knew I was dehydrating as my head was beginning to hurt. I waited a few minutes again, telling myself that, hey, it’s only 1.32 miles to go, piece of cake, you can do this in your sleep, etc, etc, blah blah blah.

At 13.50 miles I had to stop at the side of the road to puke.

At 14 miles, I was done. All-told, with the various breaks and pauses, I was out there for just under two hours and twenty minutes. My actual run time was about 2:01 - I paused my Garmin on each break, as I don’t like the idea of counting walking mileage. It’s run or bust for me.

A very long and messy split:

Upside? It’s a solid day’s work. The first seven miles were solid. Some of the next seven was. I got it done. My cardiovascular system felt fine throughout. It’s a good total for one day, however it was accomplished.

Downside? It could have been a hell of a lot prettier. My legs were toast after about 11 miles. I totally cooked out there… again. I dehydrated badly. As good as I felt going out, I suspect I may not be 100 per cent well. My last three miles were a bit of a nightmare.

Thing is, writing this now many hours later, I look back and think: Geez, you wuss, how could you have let that happen? But it’s amazing how quickly the body and mind forgets pain and suffering when it’s over. I mean, it’s all relative, of course - I wasn’t being tortured or anything. But it was a very difficult last 3-4 miles, and it hurt. It also hurt to have to stop and start, but I know I’m not the sort of person who feels the need to do that unless things are seriously going wrong.

However, it does make me wonder how it’s going to be when I move up to much longer runs, like 20+ miles. I read several ultrarunner’s blogs and it seems many of them take a far more casual approach to their distance running than maybe I do, throwing in a mixture of run/walking and routinely stopping at water fountains, stores, etc, to refuel and even to eat. I think that’s the way it has to be, because self-support, anything beyond 15 miles seems like a potential nightmare. I mean, it’s all well and good if you start to break down a little while away from your home, but if you’re out in the middle of nowhere that’s a world of hurt. Sure, many things can go wrong (but hopefully won’t), but taking care of your fluids seems to be something that’s essential on these long days.

I think one of the mistakes I made was assuming I’d be okay for 7 miles and could then start to think about fluids. That would have been fine if I’d then been stopping after 7 miles, but in this heat and humidity I think you need to be getting the fluids in earlier than the halfway mark - I mean, in a half-marathon, you wouldn’t wait until mile 8 before you had some water, would you? It sounded good this morning but it mostly sounded convenient, which isn’t the same thing at all.

I think, as I’ve said on here in the past, I need to start thinking about some kind of Camelback system (or similar). They’re pretty cheap and while I’m not sure how it feels to run with a couple of litres strapped to your back, these things are made specifically for that purpose so I don’t think it can be the worst thing in the world. The weather won’t be as much of an issue in the UK but the time will always be a factor. I also like the way that these modern hydration packs have pockets for everything you could possibly need - mobile phones, food, etc.

I also need to track down some gel shots - you’d think in America that would be easy, but nobody sells them, even my local GNC. I’ve never seen anything like it - in England the GNCs are about a quarter of the size and they have about ten different kinds. I guess this isn’t an area that caters to a lot of runners.

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I burned 1927 calories on my run. After I’d showered and cooled down for a bit, my wife and I went to Olive Garden for lunch. I’ve never been there before, but she always spoke highly of it, which clashed somewhat with the general perception of the chain on one or two TV shows I’ve seen. Turns out she was right and they were wrong - the food and service was superb. And at $45 with wine, and tip, unbelievably good value. And I was stuffed afterwards, so I think I got most of my calories back!

Tomorrow, incidentally, is the last day of the competition. Who will win? Join me then and find out!

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I felt better this morning but not quite yet well. Again, my appetite is fine and I ate a hearty breakfast and took down plenty of fluids. But by the time I felt ready to run it was after 11am and already a scorchingly hot day. I decided four miles sounded just about right to me. I’ll attempt to make up the deficit tomorrow and Thursday, with two long runs on each day.

Splits:

I actually felt pretty good for the first 2-3 miles but the heat got to me by mile four. Overall, however, I was slightly faster than I have been for a little while. It’s frustrating because my legs and cardiovascular system feel great - it’s just my stomach and a real increase in my sweat output that’s giving me problems right now. I feel like I’m dehydrating really fast, even though I’m taking in more fluids than normal.

Anyway, onwards and upwards! Hopefully things will be 100 per cent back to normal by tomorrow.

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I’ve been pretty luck, all things considered, that I’ve made it almost a quarter of the way through this thing and really haven’t had any serious problems with illness or injuries. It’s got to the point where each day I just wake up assuming everything is going to be as right as rain.

And for the most part, that’s true. Today, however, after waking up about 8am and eating my breakfast, I suddenly started to feel really, really lousy. I’d planned to do 8 miles about 10am, but by 11am I’d been back in bed for about 90 minutes and stayed there until well after midday. My symptoms included, of course, the now obligatory sour stomach, but also hot and cold sweats, a fever, clammy hands, waves of nausea, extreme tiredness and general lethargy. Not a winning combination ahead of a big run.

So, I put it off until 4pm. It was hot today, and the forecast said that was going to be the hottest part of the day, but I didn’t have much choice. My wife’s mother had was cooking a big roast for 6pm and I didn’t want to have to run after that. That was the weird thing - while I felt really quite ill, my appetite was solid, and I ate intelligently all day to prepare myself for the run. Wholewheat bread, nuts, bananas, almond butter, some wholegrain cereal, soy milk, and about a litre of Powerade.

I set off at 16:08. The first mile was fine. At 1.13 miles, however, my fuel belt began to feel really uncomfortable and the pressure against my abdomen seemed immense. Immediately, my stomach soured again and I had to make a pit stop with some urgency - being unnecessarily frank, I figure I left about half of my bodyweight in the Walgreen’s rest room.

However, despite that, up until two miles I felt pretty good.

Then everything started to fall apart.

Almost literally as soon as the two-mile mark rolled over, I started to feel really lousy again. By 2.5 miles I was staggering all over the place and feeling almost delirious. Whatever I’d done, whatever nutrients I’d taken on board, it wasn’t enough.

At 2.82 miles, I had to stop at another Walgreen’s (they really are on every corner - thankfully) and pick up a 32oz bottle of Powerade. I drank that down while I walked and after almost ten minutes decided to try and run again.

0.18 of a mile later - three miles in total now - I had to stop again. I felt sick. Really, really sick. The heat was so intense, and that combined with a body that was already feeling depleted just left me a mess.

I needed to get out of the sun and found some shelter below a small tree. It was actually pretty cool under there and I sat still for 15 minutes, generally feeling pretty rotten and sorry for myself while trying to drink some more water and Powerade. I knew I had to run some more to keep even remotely close to my mileage goals this week and figured if I could churn out another mile, and do four in total, that would be okay. Sure, it’s half of what I wanted to do, but in my condition it felt like a small victory.

I did the mile (8:36) and then walked again for a bit, sipping water. Eight minutes later I realised I had about a mile to walk home and somehow decided it made logical sense for me to run that mile, as opposed to walking it, as that would mean I would get out of the heat and home faster. I mean, it did make some kind of crazy sense, because the heat at this point was almost unbearable, but I felt like crap, and this situation was not improved by making an immediate wrong turn and having to double back.

8:41 or so later, I was at my front door. I did 5.17 miles in total. The split below is actually backwards - I stopped and restarted my Garmin at three and four miles because on both occasions I figured I was done. But I wasn’t.

Overall, it’s a result, but it’s left me some loose change I need to make up the rest of this week. To be honest, though, right now I just hope I feel okay when I wake up tomorrow morning. I’ve no idea why I suddenly got ill - a homemade tuna sandwich late last night might be the unlikely culprit - but I’m hoping I just as suddenly become well.

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Meantime, what are your thoughts on Usain Bolt’s 9.69 in the Olympics? Is there any chance at all that it was done naturally, even if every test he does comes back okay?

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This has to be the only place in the world where after the epic storm we had last night the next day it’s actually hotter. Where’s the sense in that?

Anyway, hotter it is. The 5.37 miles I did earlier this morning was pretty brutal - the last mile or so was hardy enough that it even began to affect my gait. I found myself leaning slightly against my left hip. Partly this was due to the fact that many of the roads around here camber quite steeply, but it also had a lot to do with being pretty tired. I had less recovery time than usual between workouts thanks to running so late last night, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Splits:

Overall I edged just over 35 miles for the week. As said, next week I’m going to add a mile or so to each daily run and try to get up to around 42.5, and then attempt my first fifty the week after, when I’m back in the UK.

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Okay - I’ve done the sun. Done a lot of sun. Done my fair share of wind. Had a little bit of rain.

What about a full-on storm? Yep, now I can scratch that one off of the list.

Couldn’t run this morning because we went to Memphis Zoo instead. Highly recommend a visit if you get the chance - the Komodo dragon in particular is extremely impressive - and we didn’t leave until about 4pm. Pretty much as soon as we decided to go the heavens opened up, big time, and down it all poured. And then some. Throw in loads of thunder and some magnificent forked lightning and you have a pretty feisty old storm. It was like a monsoon.

I decided to wait it out a bit. I had some pizza for dinner - and by some, I of course stupidly mean about six slices and bread sticks - and when picking that up I dashed into Walmart to pick up a cap. Any cap. I wasn’t going to find nor was I looking for something specific to running - basically I just needed a shield.

My options, however, were somewhat limited. Not in numbers - Walmart must have had a hundred different caps - but in style. Thankfully, I cannot pull off a trucker or NASCAR cap, and I don’t really want to be seen in something that has Coors Lite written across the front in huge letters and a beer bottle opener attached on the side (handy as that might be). So, after some ums and ahs, I had to settle for a very dark green cap that came labelled as ‘Ireland’. Not ideal, but fairly appropriate - I am, in case you hadn’t guessed, half Irish, after all.

So, back home, pizza in my (bulging) belly, and finally the rain looks to have eased a bit, so off I go. I threw on an extra t-shirt for warmth and wore slightly thicker socks than normal. Within about half a mile, I realised this was a pretty big mistake - it wasn’t cold at all. In fact, it was incredibly humid. Miserably so.

My second mistake was ignoring the contents of my stomach. I simply had not let enough time elapse to be undertaking any kind of physical activity, let alone running. Luckily - and I realise I’m now boring and grossing you out with the regularity of this discourse - I passed a Walgreens on the way and that provided some sweet, sweet relief.

Things improved after that a little. The rain eased off even while the light show continued - which was actually pretty cool - and ultimately I decided that the effort that went into my $10 cap was probably wasted.

Splits:

I’ve already done seven miles more this week than last and have a day in hand tomorrow - I should total out around 34-35 miles for this week, and I’m going to try a long run on Sunday in an attempt to hit 42.5 or so next week. After that, I’ll move up to fifty.

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Well, the heat is most definitely back on and my days of being able to laze around a bit in the morning and run late-morning are, I think, coming to an end. I wanted to do four miles today and that’s what I did, but it was hot - the early 90s, according to the thermo on the strip. I’ve definitely acclimatised to the heat now and keeping going isn’t an issue, but it’s a sweltering experience. Additionally, there seems to be a clear connection between the mercury going North and my body needing to make the feared bathroom break. Since the race on Saturday, and through Tuesday, I had no problems at all - but the weather was relatively cool. Now we’re climbing back up again, I’ve had to stop in consecutive days. That can’t be a coincidence.

Splits:

Again, there’s a four-minute break in there, so overall I ran for about 33 minutes. Tomorrow I’ll do a similar run again and Saturday it’s back to the track for some speed work.

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That was a tough one.

Going out I planned to do eight miles. I wasn’t particularly bothered about time - somewhere around an 8:30 average sounded mighty fine. (As usual, and this will I’m hoping always be the case - there’s no room for a 9-minute mile. That’s a big, big fail.)

I brought my Fuel Belt with me for the first time since I’ve been on vacation. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

It’s not as hot as it was this time last week but it’s still cookin’ - in the low 90s according to the giant thermometer on the strip and the humidity was just a little below that, too. No wind, and the roads are scorchin’. That adds up to a whole lot of uncomfortable.

I had to take the dreaded bathroom break at 3.8 miles - luckily I passed a Kroger’s and so this was easy enough, and to be fair this hasn’t been a problem for a little while now. I haven’t really decided if these breaks help or hurt - it’s nice to be off your feet even for a few minutes, and I took a moment to drink 8oz of water and wipe myself down with a paper napkin (or ten). Kroger’s also has great air conditioning, and while that feels good the change in temperature even over that short a period of time made my legs feel pretty stiff when I got back on the road.

After that, it was pretty steady. It hurt, but it wasn’t too bad. My last three miles are oddly similar at 8:42 - almost like a metronome ticking them off.

Ended up being out there for 1:14 in total, although my actual run time was about 1:07.

Splits:

Had a weird experience last night. I was lying in bed when I suddenly felt this strange sensation in my left foot. I turned to my wife and casually said, “I think my foot just split open.” And it had. There was no blood at all, but a small, maybe three-quarter inch slice had just opened up. It became a little tender quite quickly and we put some medicated cream on there and sealed it up with a band-aid. It felt fine this morning, but what an odd thing. While it didn’t exactly hurt, the feeling when it opened was a bit like how it feels when you peel sunburned skin from your body, only slightly more pointed. I hope this isn’t the beginning of something that’s going to be an issue down the line. My feet have held up amazingly well to date but this constant heat here is making them look a little ragged, I must admit. I’m not quite ready for Krazy Glue and duct tape yet and I hope those kinds of remedies are many miles away.

In other news, we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch - it was fantastic! I always thought it was another place that was going to be on a par with KFC but it was miles, miles better - really high-quality chicken cuts and the salad and buns (wholewheat!) were great. And those waffle fries… man, oh man!

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