Dissecting a bad day

My long run on Sunday the 8th wasn't good. I ran very sluggish, felt low on energy, was fatigued by about the 9th or 10th mile and had to walk the last mile back home due to a feeling of tightness of the hips and some pain in the area. This is only the second long run since the week long break after the half-Marathons in October. As the first one on the 1st of Nov went pretty well  I have been working on listing out all the things that were different this time in an effort to isolate the cause or causes so I can do better on the coming Sunday.  The last time I had a bad day and walked the last mile was in summer when I started pretty late and found myself running my later miles at high noon in the scorching sun.  This time around heat can not be the issue as the temperature was a pleasant 50-52 F (10-11 deg C) which felt in the low 40's (5-6 C) with wind chill.  Here is the list of possible suspects I have -

1.  For some reason I was up till late in the night so that my sleep was under 5 hours according to my Fitbit.  I didn't think sleep would have such an impact, as I've run many 10K races and even a half-Marathon with similar short sleep, but perhaps it did play a role as this distance longer than the half. Every day is different. Moreover, running at a slower pace I was spending a lot more time on my feet than in a race. Whether or not sleep was a factor, it is always good to sleep well. I will try to get good sleep Saturday night so I can feel well rested and fresh for the long run in the morning.

2. My new hydration belt was low on my waist and felt quite tight. The reason this might have been a factor is that the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back was that I felt very tight in my hip area both outside and inside, and even felt some pain on the outer side of the right hip. That was when I decided to stop and walk. Next time I will make sure to get that hydration belt around my waist rather than low on the hip. On the positive side, the walk did feel great and I felt strong walking uphill the last mile. Clearly, I wasn't zapped out.

3. A third reason involving the hip is that I've been doing some new exercises aimed at improving the strength and flexibility of my ankles using a wobble board. I think it's been doing some good to my left ankle, but since the condition has been around for a long time it still has ways to go.  Some exercises with the wobble board do cause rotation of the hips, in addition to which I've been doing some hip rotation separately as well. So the pain on the right hip appears to point in the direction of the new exercises. It is right where the bone that protrudes out from the thigh at the hips, but not on the bone itself, but probably on the iliotibial band (ITB) or so caused by excessive rubbing on the protruding bone (bursa).  Anyway, I plan to continue the exercises as they should be of help in the long run. If they cause some inconveniences in the short term I will just have to deal with them somehow. I will do more of my usual stretches this and this for the ITB .

4. Another thing I suspect that could've caused discomfort around the hips is that for a short period I was running across the road at about 30 deg angle or so, looking backward for any traffic that may come from behind.  I was doing that in order to give some space to a couple of police cars and an emergency vehicle attending to a car or passenger that needed help. I had to do this kind of partial sideways running looking backward and forward uphill around mile 8 or so and again a mile and a half later on my return as well. Again, can running uphill with a sideways orientation cause stress around the hips? Your guess is as good as mine. In any case, I don't think I'll see cops and emergency vehicles on the course too often.

5. Usually before the long run I start hydrating with Gatorade about 2 hours before the run and stop drinking about 1 hour before. I did not do it this time, and I don't remember why. For long runs the loss of electrolyte can cause all kind of issues such as muscle cramps, fatigue, etc. During the run I don't take my first sip until six or seven miles into the run. So I suspect that missing my usual hydration could've played a role. I'm going to stock some Gatorade and make sure I don't miss it on Sunday morning before the start.

6.  My long run is normally run at or below the pace where breathing would begin to get deep. Of course, when running uphill I will allow the breathing to get deep but it would still be comfortable - or the easiest pace I can run up that hill.  This time I was focusing on hear rate trying to stay at the 60-70% of my max heart rate. At several paces I felt this was too constraining and it was like I was holding myself back too much. This became clear when I analyzed my split pace for various miles in previous long run and the current one. The current one was almost always slower than the previous. So next time I will be going back to focusing on breathing rate and feeling of exertion than going by heart rate.

Those are the possible culprits. I don't think I've missed anything.  Other than the Sunday debacle, running has been going well. Odometer has risen to 975 miles. Looking to break the 1000 mile mark next week - Yay!!

Have fun.

If I can run, u can run