This weekend's long run was one for the ages. I took the day off Friday to go to the Laurel Highlands to try to hit the big hills. They are pretty much the biggest ones I have access to. Also wanted to get a long run in while carrying the new poles to see how I liked them. Here's the skinny:
Ran from Ohiopyle all the way up to the top of the big hill at mile 8 or 9 (obviously I did not run the entire way, I walked the hills). Had no less than 5 gnats fly directly into my right eye. They seemed to be leaving the left one alone. I say no less than 5 because to be honest, at 5, I lost count. The bugs were killing me out there. I tried the technique of a fellow 2010 Laurel Highlands Ultra finisher (also a fellow dad who gives me lots of advice, and a nice guy) who told me that before a long run, he does not use soap in the shower the night before, also he does not brush his teeth or use deoderant. Makes sense, but did not work for me. Not only did I smell terrible, but the bugs seemed to be attracted to me.
As an aside, the temperature was WELL into the 90's, humidity was probably just as high, and heat index had to be 100 if not more. It was just sweltering with little breeze. Anyway, I got to the top of the big hill and turned around for some good, steep dowhnill running. I could tell that I was nearly out of Gatorade in the Nathan so the plan was to stop at the Ohiopyle Shelter at mile 6, and get some water out of the pump. NO DICE! The pump had been dismantled, obviously the water table was low and there was no water available. This presented a serious dilemma. Not only was I almost 2 hours away from the car, and stranded without water, I was nowhere near accomplishing what I took the day off, and drove an hour and a half to do.
The obvious solution seemed to be to refill at one of the many stream crossings. I would probably not drink from any random stream, I'm sure the water is teeming with bacteria, but I was high up in the mountains, far from civilization. My rationale was that while I wouldn't drink water downstream (much lower elevation), I had to be very near the source (presumably an underground spring), and since I was so near the source, there was little opportunity to pick up anything nasty. Sounded reasonable to me!
I filled up my bladder with stream water, dumped some on my head from the handheld I was also carrying, and headed back up the big hill for another round. This time I decided to break out the trekking poles, to see how much they helped the climbing. Turns out they worked a little too well, my heart rate was higher than what I would have liked, forcing me to slow down. Back up to mile 8, then down to the bottom again (mile 6).
At this point I planned to just go back to the car at Ohiopyle, but something in me decided to turn around and hit the big hill again, so before the "little man" had the opportunity to talk me out of it, I decided to do a third hill repeat. This time, it seemed a little bit harder. Drinking ice cold gatorade, or ice cold anything, will do wonders to cool down your "core." When you are limited to lukewarm stream water, not only does it not refresh, it also sits in your gut. I guess your body has trouble absorbing lukewarm stream water. The humidity was also very high, so sweat was not evaporating from the skin very readily, which only added to the fun. I have to admit, I started to get a little concerned. However I thought that it probably would not be much better in Utah, so I sucked it up and kept going.
By this time, the 5 dead gnats in my right eye must have slowly been decomposing, because I noticed that my vision out of that eye was very blurry. In addition, it seemed to be tearing significantly. I finally made it to the top of the hill again, overheated, belly full of lukewarm stream water, and a bad eye that was playing host to the decomposition of at least 5 gnats. I decided that it was a good time to have a seat on the overlook, take my shirt off, and cool down, which is what I did.
After 5 (alright, 10) minutes I felt good enough to keep going, so I labored back to the car. I'm not even going to say how long it took me to get back to Ohiopyle. Those hills the first 6 miles never seem as bad when you're first starting out. On the way back, they're tough. I was trying to limit my intake of stream water to no more than a liter or two, so I was probably not drinking enough the entire way back. It was brutal.
I drank: 2 liters of Gatorade, about a liter of streamwater from the Nathan, a couple more bottles of stream water, 3 bottles of Gatorade I bought from the whitewater rafting outfitter at Ohiopyle, a Snapple when I stopped to get gas on the way home, 2 Dogfish head 60 minute IPA's, and more Gatorade at home. I only peed twice last night. That's how hot it was.
Today, I did a loop at Mingo very, very slowly. I have been convinced that the run the day after a long run is perhaps as important as the long run itself, because it teaches you to run on tired legs. I'll buy that, late in any race, it really takes some motivation to keep moving when the legs are dead, you've been up almost 24 hours, and you're just tired of being alone in the woods all day.
I am very, very happy that tomorrow my only form of exercise will be splashing around in the Whitehall pool.
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