run, rest, eat, bitch, buy things, cross-train, blog, repeat.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Experimenting.

You know what's better than running 18 miles with your favorite local running group?????

Running only 8 of them!!!

Sunday I met up with the Striders for my first group training run of the new year! It was good to see some familiar faces and lots of new ones. I love the spring training runs. Always lots of new people out there training for their first marathons (since The Country Music Marathon is in April). And I find their exuberant adherence to their training plans quite endearing...

Awww... you'll run around the parking lot 2 times to get your garmin to say 18.00 instead of 17.79 because your training plan says you must run 18 exactly? Cute. barf, barf, gag, gag.

No, seriously... I actually love these training plan-and-numbers-obsessed newbies. I find them refreshing.. particularly since I'm always the one that's like... ehhhh... 18 miles? 16 is good enough. Yeah, I'm lazy.

So, anyway, on the way to the run I stopped at the gas station to pick up this:


Now... here's the thing. My best friend Jeff swears by this stuff. So much so, that he drank some last year at my Birthday Weekend down in New Orleans... and he got VandyMontana to drink some too.

Be afraid VandyMontana... be very afraid of dudes in sportscoats pushing 5 Hour Energy.

Yeah, that's exactly what it tastes like.

The next 5 hours, I can assure you were probably the wildest of both Jeff and VandyMontana's life... fortunately, the details are um... a little hazy.

Anyway, back to the present. Over New Years when I was visiting Jeff in Charlottesville, VA, I drank about 1/2 of a 5 Hour Energy thinking that it would help me stay up late. Yeah... it didn't. Bummer.

I never thought about using it when running... I just assumed my heart would explode or something and that it wasn't a good idea... Until... my friend Liz mentioned that she takes them before long runs. And she thinks they help! And her heart hasn't exploded!!

And then last week... I read on a good friend of mine's blog about how they took 5 hour energy on a long run and ran so well and awesome that one of them actually injured themselves!

I mean... that sounds RIGHT UP MY ALLEY.

So, of course, knowing that my training level is no where near where it should be to run 18 miles, I assumed that 5 Hour Energy would power me through.

I met Steve in the parking lot and as we walked up to the group, he asked me...  "so how many miles you think you're good for?"

"Ehhh... about 5 hours worth." I responded.

Well shit. That 5 hour energy didn't do anything for me. I mean... I felt fairly decent for most of the run (I ONLY RAN 8 MILES!!!) and it was super hilly... but, I didn't feel a burst of energy or like I had grown wings or anything...

So, when we got back to our cars at a water stop along the way around mile 8.. I felt a little weird being like... hey, yeah.. umm... SEE YA. While I walked to my car and everyone else was starting on the last 10 miles.

All in all I was happy to feel half-way decent on an 8 mile run. Sure, I was disappointed that I didnt bust out 7:30 minute miles for 18 miles and then feel ready to do it all over again thanks to 5 Hour Energy. But, as always... there's a lesson here... you can't fake it.. there's no magic pill, gu, or godawfultasting liquid that can help you push through a long run... you just gotta put in the time and the training. Drats.

3 comments:

Tanya said...

WHAT?!

You must not have drunk it the right way. Did you slam it and then meditate on that idiot running off the mountain?

Very disappointing. Very puzzling.

Spike said...

I've tried 5HE a few times before long runs...I call it 5 mile gut rot. But I still use it. Yep, that was no help at all, I know.

Vandy-Montana said...

I was just talking about how I took a 5 hour energy once and don't remember taking it. Wow.

My dad swears by them. He has one before every football game he officiates.