Running with Crohn’s: That was tough

The goal

Run my first 8-mile run since mid-May.

The plan

Get up early and run in the morning while the temperature was in the mid-50s.

The reality

A work meeting interfered with running “the plan.”  So, I ran at 1 pm instead.  By that time, the temperature had risen to 87 F and there were no clouds.

I only managed to run 2.5/8.0 miles before my heart rate reached “zone 5” (I’ll write about heart rate zones in a future entry).  My “running rules” (I’ll also write about my running rules in a future entry) dictate that I have to start walking when I reach zone-5 and I do not get to resume running until my heart rate drops below zone-4.  I had to complete the run as a run/walk, running 0.5 to 1.0 miles, and then walking 0.5 to 0.75 miles.

I did complete my goal distance plus the half-mile warm-up and half-mile cool down, but it took about two hours and ten minutes to finish the whole 9-mile effort.  It left me feeling exhausted for several hours after the work out and glad to get into bed at night.

Expectations

It was both a “new” distance and it was a hot day, so I knew the run was going to be very hard.  For this run I expected to feel tired, hot, dehydrated, and suffer from higher than normal heart rate.  I planned to walk when I needed it, I planned to both fuel and hydrate during the run.

So, despite the difficulty of the run, I did not think of it was a “Bad” run.