My long run this Sunday was 15 miles with 4 surges starting on mile 11. I felt strong until mile 9, then energy level went down a bit until the start of the surges (2 min at 8:55-9:05 min/mile, 3 min recovery). Then to my surprise I felt very energized during surges. In fact I went much faster than planned. It seemed to have tap into my reserve energy. But the last mile was harder of all.
Overall, I felt I did well. I could have run more, an indication that I didn’t pushed beyond my limit.
yet, I felt exhausted afterwards. Mild headache, fatigue, higher HR and low HRV, but muscle soreness was minimal. I didn’t do much the rest of the morning. Instead of sleeping, I meditated for 30 min which was restorative. I texted my coach about how I did and felt, and he wisely said, you could have fueled a bit more given the distance (I had 1 can bar and 2 gels), pushed a bit harder than necessary during the surges, and the exhaustion might be related to electrolyte imbalance.
All on points. I sweat a lot during the run here, had 1.3 liter of water and 0.5 liter of water with nuun. He thinks my water intake is fine but might need more electrolytes. He recommended LMNT so I just ordered it, seems to work better than nuun. He suggests I focus on protein to help with recovery.
Nothing really sound appetizing but I ate throughout the day whenever I felt slightly hungry. For breakfast I had this vegan burger concoction with vegan cheese. The burger is made with lentils, oats and mushrooms. The best of vegan burger I’ve had tried so I kept making them.
Sofia had soccer game that I had all the intention to go but really needed to rest. So Lizzy went to watch Sofia. When they came back, the storm started so we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and napping. By then, my imbalance was resolved and I felt normal again. Lizzy found a cozy spot to read while snacking on homemade popcorn.
School starts on Monday so girls spent some time getting prepared, mostly finding the library books they borrowed before the break.
Just like that, summer break is over. It was a first time we didn’t go away for a long period of time, yet, I feel like we did a lot and mentally recharged.
Our New Journey 
Wow! What a great effort and I’m so glad the input from the coach is so helpful and seems both intuitive and specifically geared to your needs.
Glad you’ve all had such a nice school break!
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Your coach sounds really great! I trained for my first 2 marathons on my own and then joined a running club that had 2 coaches for my last 2 marathons. It was helpful to have the guidance of coaches. Figuring out fuel during runs and recovery is tricky. For me, drinking chocolate milk right after a run really helped! And it tasted good. I would get one on the way back from a run, shower, and then feel much better. It must be so humid and hot where you are, though. I think you are running your marathon in Germany in the fall – the temps there are going to feel sooo great! Our summer is hot/humid here in Minnesota, although not like what you are experiencing. But then the weather cools and humidity drops in the fall and I would feel soooo fast when that change happened since the weather can really weigh you down.
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