3 Mistakes

I had 16 on my schedule today and it was absolutely perfect fall running weather - I even put my new favorite running shorts on one more time and started out full of enthusiasm. Unfortunately I made three big mistakes that ended up making this kind of a tough run by the end.

My first mistake was not charging up my Garmin the night before. Shortly into my run it told me it had a low battery and by kilometer 11 it died on me. Bummer but not major because I did know where I still needed to run to get the full 16. I noticed, though, in the short time I have had it, how dependent (addicted) I have already become! It really sucked not to have that instant pace feedback and I have to admit, after it shut off I took a lot of walk breaks. But the two other mistakes I made were also responsible for that:

Mistake number two was being way too active yesterday - I did two separate bike trips for errands in the morning and then walked downtown with my kids in the afternoon. Mistake number three was waiting til kilometer 8 and 53 minutes into my run before taking my first gel. Add these two mistakes together and you get REALLY TIRED LEGS! I was just pooped and it was quite a struggle, both mentally and physically to keep going.

I did take another gel, I took lots of walk breaks, I briefly considered calling my husband to come and pick me up...but I did make it in the end. When I walked in the door, my youngest immediately said, "You look tired Mom!" - which is exactly how I felt.

So the whole purpose of mistakes is to learn something and the purpose of training runs is to learn this stuff before the big day. I am going to be more diligent about charging up my Garmin and Ipod on Saturday evening, I am going to be more careful about resting my legs on the next few Saturdays when I have lots of kilometers on the schedule, and I am going to replot my usual route so I hit the water fountain a lot sooner and more than once, so I can take my gels in earlier. So it certainly wasn't a waste of a run. And I did get a lot of sunshine and Vitamin D on my legs! And at least my Ipod didn't die on me...