A new PB in distance in Utah!

I completed my 14-mile long run today. I've been in Utah for 13 years, and this run was a new personal-best for distance in Utah. When I first moved here I did long runs of 11 - 12 miles, but I don't think I went as far as 14. When I lived in Massachusetts I did 15 milers year around. I'm hoping I can maintain long runs of 13-15 miles year around here, too.

I could tell when I got up this morning that I was tired. My wakeup HR was up to 50, and I didn't have that "spark" of energy that indicates I'm in good shape. I was surprised that I was tired, because I've had good sleep the past few days (8 hours last night). However, on Wednesday night I didn't get enough sleep, and that probably was the cause of my being tired this morning. I've noticed in the past that there frequently is a 2 - 3 day delay in my feeling the effects of insufficient sleep. I decided not to abort the run but to do a lot of walking during the run. Instead of walking breaks every mile, I took them every half-mile, and a few times more often than that. Had I not done the extra walking, I would have had to abort the run.

I didn't have a problem with diarrhea during the run. I drank water on the way out and a combination of water and Gatorade (small swallows from each bottle) on the way back. Hopefully, my body is getting used to the Gatorade.

Another thing that made me tired during the run was the rototilling I did before I ran, and the moving of 45 bags of cow manure from my son's truck to the back of my yard. Each bag only weighed about 20 pounds, but it all adds up. Also, the rototilling only took about 15 minutes, but that took some energy, too.

I saw the red fox that I saw last week, in the same place, too. This time she ran about 100 yards out into the field and hunkered down in the grass and watched me. After I passed the grove of trees from which she ran, she returned to the grove. She probably has a litter there. She is a beautiful animal. Long red tail with a white tip. On my way back, I passed the grove of trees, but she didn't run out. Maybe she has figured out that I'm ok.

[later in the day] On my Wednesday run I saw a farmer's wife and kids getting their irrigation ditch ready for canal water. They had a "ditch plow" that was pulled by a horse. The kids were riding on the plow to give it weight. The plow cleaned out stuff from the ditch. Today I saw a different farmer cleaning out the filter that is at the head of his irrigation ditch. He said the canal will have water on Monday.

Training Graphs