The sitter got here around 2:30 this afternoon and I headed out for a 7 mile run. It was warm and humid, but not as bad as some days. I had my fuel belt, but I discovered right before my run that I was out of “ade”, so I packed water and some shot blocks, figuring they’d take care of me. I’m tired of running in my neighborhood, so I headed about a half mile away to another neighborhood. The first mile or two went fine and then I headed onto a shady path through the woods. I don’t usually run places like that because I run by myself. It actually went fine. I only saw one weirdo, but there were county workers nearby doing something, so he didn’t make me nervous.
At about the three mile point, I ate one of the blocks and drank some water while I walked for a minute. I was pretty warm, but really not doing badly. I decided to head back into my neighborhood since I knew which streets had the most shade. Rather suddenly, at about 3.5 miles, I experienced some, umm, intestinal distress. Within about a tenth of a mile, I realized I needed to head home NOW. After arriving home and resolving the issue, I jumped on the treadmill to finish the last 3.1 miles. Should have been easy, but I continued to feel sick the entire rest of my run. I managed to finish 7 miles total, but just barely.
I’m still trying to figure out what happened. I figure it was either the shot block (which I’ll try again soon at the END of a run) or I was already dehydrated from playing outside with the kids all day (plus a three mile walk with them and a friend). I’ve now had a snack, dinner, two glasses of nuun, and multiple glasses of water and I almost feel normal.
I probably should have just stopped when I got home, but I’m so paranoid about not being able to finish the marathon, that I won’t let myself miss a single mile. I’m also worried that if I let myself slack, I’ll become a total slacker and not get in the distances I need to on the long runs. I have to admit I’m looking forward to the marathon being over and being able to go back to my regularly scheduled life. I love running, but I’m not enjoying feeling “forced”. At least with the shorter distances (half marathon and less), if I mess up the training, I may not finish as fast as I want, but I’ll finish.
I don’t like running without my ‘stuff’. Good for you for sticking it out. 🙂
Have you ever used Shot Bloks before? If not, they could certainly be the cause of the upset. When you usually run with ‘ade, do you dilute it, or drink it straight up? All of those small factors can make big differences on some people’s GI systems.
I was going to ask the same thing as Jess. Too much sugar on the run gives me the poos. Even diluted Gatorade is too much, so I just use gels with low sugar or no sugar.