Bonking and hand-held do not mix...

These effects aren't very special. ~ Butthead

Yesterday's run was an exercise in physiology management, mostly. It is becoming more and more clear that I should never try the Badwater Ultra as I just do not do well at all when confronted with unrelenting sunshine and warm temps. It wasn't even that hot yesterday but man, I suffered a bit due to lack of any shade, the warm-ish temps and poor nutrition.

We were up early to clean runs at the bunny shelter which is truly a rewarding experience. Rach went in at some ungodly hour of the day to get started and I followed shortly thereafter - sans breakfast. We got the bunnies cleaned up very quickly and had decided we would go see a movie around noon so I had just enough time to get in a "long" run and then get changed and to the movies.

The run started off rather poorly. I whacked down an apple but felt super clunky and not at all fluid. After a couple of miles I started feeling better and just focused on staying relaxed with good form. This is not my day to go out and break any speed records so I settled into a nice 9:00-9:30 pace and was able to keep my heartrate down for the most part. I circled one of Broomfield's open space areas on dirt and then jumped into some neighborhood road running for the second portion of the day's run.

Really, I felt okay for most of the run but never great and the longer I went, the hotter it got and there was little to no protection from the sun's intensity. I wound my way back around on surface streets then picked up the Big Dry Creek trail for the next portion of the outing. It was during this stretch that I started feeling pretty crappy and my watch died so I had no information about how long I had been out but only a vague idea as to my timing. I circled back around to the shelter, checked the time and dropped off my non-functional HRM, then headed back out for another mile and a half or so to finish the day with about 11 miles and 1:45 or thereabouts of time. Overall, not too shabby but I wish I had felt a bit better.

Post run, Rach and I headed to see District 9. I was feeling a bit bonked and dehydrated and grabbed a burrito pre-screening to see if getting some food in my belly would help me feel better. It did, albeit briefly, and by about 2/3 of the way through the film I was feeling quite queasy. I think the combination of bonking, being a little dehydrated and the massive amounts of hand-held footage during the film combined to make things a little rough. I soon recovered and started feeling a bit better and enjoyed the film. Great effects. Good acting. Good story. Interested to see how much they screw up the sequel.

So today I am resting and recovering a bit and will get back out there tomorrow. I felt like I made progress this week. The abs still are bugging me a bit but overall, I feel pretty solid.

~stubert.