Lessons from the long run: 15 miles of treadmill BUH-ness

Mother Nature was made good on her promise to give us 20 to 30 mph winds today.  If you've ever had a long run planned and then woke up to the whistling of the high winds past your bedroom window, you'll know how depressing that is.  Since the winds were coming straight from the east, the hubbs and I briefly toyed with the idea of him driving me east for 15 miles, dropping me off, and then me running home to the west with that nasty wind at my back.

But then he was all "oh if we do that I will worry about you getting killed or hit by a car or some crazy person shoving you in the trunk of a car and stealing you" even though I have been running all over the place by myself for 7.5 years and usually the only things I need to worry about where I live are stray dogs and goats following me.

I eventually ended up humoring him and headed to the treadmill.  Total BUH.

BUH and a BUH

Even though this long run was on the treadmill, I still learned some long run lessons:

Lesson #1: My treadmill and my Garmin watch think quite differently about distance and pace.

Add 99 more minutes of BUH to that time you see there.

I had to run more than half a mile for my watch to actually read a happy "15" whilst the treadmill had already pushed past that number.  Running on the treadmill is BUH enough without having to run extra because I'm a slave to what my Garmin reads.


Lesson #2: Doing one mile slower and two miles at pace really helps get through the longness of treadmill long run.

Doing this splits the run into smaller chunks of 3s for me, which makes it easier to get through.  Plus I get to look forward to a slower mile every once in a while...so, bonus.

Lesson #3: The Last Jedi is a good movie--DON'T BELIEVE THE HATERS.

Downloaded that sucker on my Kindle, hooked up my Bluetooth speaker so I could actually hear the movie over the treadmill, and it sucked me in entirely.  I even bought the one with all the deleted scenes at the end, so I didn't have to suffer through the last few minutes of the run with no movie.

Kindle deployed for maximum treadmill distraction.

Lesson #4: This new watch band I bought for my Garmin sucks.

I've whined before about how bands aren't made for people with nickel allergies...well this band isn't made with a strong enough magnet.  This means the magnet slips down the band while you run, loosening the band and annoying the crap out of me.  I would get a new one but they all contain nickel somehow, which takes my annoyance to a whole.  'nother.  level.


Lesson #5: The Headsweats visors really are better at sopping up all your head sweat.

Now, let me first state that I like the visors and hats Headsweats puts out.  However, I always thought they were kind of hyped when it came to their sweat-soaking abilities...until today, that is.  I wore a visor that was just that: a visor, and during the last 3 miles I was slinging more sweat off the brim of that visor than I was off the rest of my body.  I've learned my lesson in terms of visors.

So during my 15 mile treadmill run I ended up wiping my visor more than my face. #treadmillrunningproblems #treadmillrunning #longrun #marathontraining #facetiouslyfit

A post shared by Terie Engelbrecht (@mrsebiology) on Mar 24, 2018 at 1:39pm PDT

Lesson #6: I dig the Brooks Levitates.

I've run a marathon in them and done some long runs in them including this one...they're not as heavy as I thought they'd be (like the Glycerin is and the Ghost now feels) and they have a springiness that I didn't think I'd like, but I do.  These have goal marathon potential.

Now, if only they came in tie-dye, they'd be perfect.


Lesson #7: I've got to stop the online shopping while I procrastinate before doing my run.

I don't know if I've said much about this on the blog, but we're remodeling a new house that one day I may actually eventually live in (maybe) and that takes money.  So I really really shouldn't have bought the St. Patrick's Day version of the Brooks Launch 5s and I should have never, ever thrown my name in for this:

It's $170 bucks if I get in, plus they sell you cool merchandise during registration, which is the best way to suck my wallet dry.  Like I tell the hubbs, at least my addiction is running and not things like cocaine, heroin, or gambling.  I do have a knack for putting things in perspective for him, I know.

Lesson #8: If it's the last mile of a long run, nature will call.

Seriously, what is it about the last mile of any long run and the need to answer that call?!?  It's a good thing there's a bathroom right next to the treadmill.  I need to take a serious look at my fiber intake.


Big lessons are done, now for the smaller learnings:

• If I could have done this run outside, I would have.  Mainly because large dog needs the naughty run out of him again.
• I'll have you know that if I don't get into the MCM, I already have Grand Rapids Marathon as my back-up marathon (which is way cheaper).
• There may have been some hooting and hollering while I was watching Star Wars and running at the same time.
• And there was so much sweat being flung from that visor that male cat, who usually likes to hang out by the treadmill while I'm running, kept getting hit with droplets and vacated the area.
• Fiber.  A friend and a foe.

Tomorrow's workout:  I'm thinking about a bike ride OUTSIDE like a crazy person plus some upper body weights.