Week 4 - Summary

Really racking up the mileage now.. I ended week four with a total of 17 miles!! It's funny: I was talking to my mother the other day and I was telling her that there was a time that I'd be talking to someone and they'd tell me how they'd run 6 miles that day or 8.. and I'd think to myself: 'Wow! I'll never be able to do that!' I always thought that if I did take up running, my body would not be able to withstand more than 3 miles. This was a time when I couldn't run for more than a minute at a time.

And now? I ran 1 hour, 36 mins and 31 secs!! 8 miles on Saturday!! I finally did it.. It WASN'T easy.. not at all.. I think the 8-mile mark is another one of those major thresholds I had to cross. The first threshold was the first mile. Then the three mile mark, then the 5 mile mark and now 8 miles.. why I say this is because you can feel your body work extra hard to push you that extra mile. I really had to dig deep to manage to finish the last mile. I didn't need that nudge when making the transition from 5 to 6 miles or 6 to 7. But 7 to 8 miles was tough.. I'm hoping 8 to 9 miles will be easier too :)

Important lessons for this week: I have to start fueling up better for my runs, especially the long ones. I've suddenly started feeling hungry after hitting the 5 mile mark and like REALLY hungry. Until now I could manage a 4 mile run on about 250 calories but I had a 400 calorie breakfast for the 8 miler but by mile 6 I was hungry. I need to research better breakfasts..

Also, I absolutely have to keep hydrated. One of the reasons the 8 miler was so difficult was because I hadn't hydrated properly.. I had only had like 4 glasses of water the day before and I hadn't had time to drink more than two glasses on the morning of the run. By mile 4 my legs were aching and I had to stop and rest and stretch. But if I have to power through without stopping, I need to hydrate better too. So from now on, I'll be carrying Gatorade on my runs as well as some nutrition to give me that extra burst of energy when I need it most.

Week 5 is about to start - target mileage: 18 miles!!