Alligators, Wasps, and more Cows

So I have a habit to time my runs badly and put my life in potential danger. "But Lucas, everything is dangerous" well... yeah I guess. Theres risk in everything, but let me finish.

Sunday I went out to the refuge with Kamau on sunday, the weather was perfect. So we start running along the rode that goes out to louisville (eventually) and 5 minutes into our run I keep hearing a buzzing sound. I didn't think much of it, but after a minute or so I looked around my head and saw a bunch of wasps. Now... if you know me well you know that I have a terrible fear of flying, stinging insects,ts paralyzing almost. So I start freaking out and swatting everywhere, and Kamua had the same thing happening to him. He had a shirt so he took it off and started swinging it around. We kept running faster and faster until we saw a service road to our right that was closed so we ran off onto the trail, not knowing what we were going to run into.

The bees stopped chasing us and we were able to relax again and enjoy the run. The trail was awesome. It was going straight through the swamps and marshes of the refuge. Eventually the trail came to a fork and I thought "well, if we go left we can connect back up to the road" so we went right. Right when we made that turn I kept hearing these small splashes next to me in the water and I got really jumpy. I knew the refuge has a large aligator population, but I never thought I would see one. About 15 seconds after i heard the splashes I see a huge and I mean HUGE aligator go into the water about 10-15 meters up the trail from us. I don't think I've been more scarred in my life. Its one thing to see one of those animals in a zoo or on TV, but seeing it on land, in person, and out in the wild is completely different. It was a beautiful animal though

Long story short we both said screw this and high tailed it back the way we came and finished up our run on the road. Next time I go out to refuge I'm definitely gonna be more careful about which trails to take and which areas to avoid.
I ended up running 7 miles and the last one was right around 5:50 because of all of the adrenaline.

Side note:
-Todays run on the farm we saw lots of cows out in the trails: somthing about moving them to a new pen. But, I found where they keep the bulls so may be I can get some friends together and play slap the bull...dangerous? Yes, but it would be an awesome thing to do before we leave for finals.

Until next time.

Overtraining and Rhabdomyolysis

Well, training has been goin well for the past week and a half, which was about the last time I posted anything. I think I am going to start posting once a week but write a paragraph on everyday. Posting everyday day is a little too much I think.

Sunday went well; I had a longrun at the wildlife refuge. I completely forgot about the refuge for some reason. I loved running there last semester and I am definitely going to be making weekly visits for my longruns because the trails there are just amazing. 

Monday-Wednesday
Well, I don't know what was wrong, but I felt like crap these three days in a row. My muscles felt fatigued and I wasn't feeling how right. I made sure I was getting adequate sleep and a healthy so I knew that was not the cause. I knew that the heat and humidity definitely had something to do with it, but little did I know of what was to come....

Something told me that I was going to hard on my runs and definitely too fast on my easy days this week and in the previous weeks as-well. Along with that, I recently started going to the gym and was doing some pretty serious post-run workouts. I have really been working hard these past few weeks. My hunger to reach my goal is larger now than it ever has been before. 

Before I go any farther with my entry I want to warn you that if you get gossed easily out easily then you might not want to continue reading.

Yesterday after my run I felt tired and extremely sore.. I did 5.5 miles at a very, very easy 7:20-7:30 pace with my buddy Kamau (who is my training partner). It was supposed to be my nice and easy recoveryday, but I still felt like I was working to hard.  After my run I had we made some pasta and hung out for a little bit. We had plans with our friends that night to go long boarding so I went back to my dorm to change and grab my board. Right before I left my dorm on my board I went to the restroom and thats when it happened. I looked at my urine and I was hydrated but there was a cloudy, brown colored liquid in it. I didn't think of it much at first, but after hearing stories about kidney failure and how dangerous it is I called my friends dad who was a doctor about an hour later.
We talked for about 15 minutes and asked me a whole bunch of questions about my exercise, diet, how I felt, and so on.... In the end he told me that I have Rhabdomyolysis, which is the severe breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue and release of its fiber contents into your bloodstream which then goes into your urinary tract. Its not a severe case (my urine was only cloudy once) and he said I will be ok, I just have to take in lots of fluids, make sure to get salt in my diet, and take some time off to rest.

So, as of right now, I need to take 3 days off from any physical activity whatsoever and then I can return to training. Its disappointing to have another set back, but thats how this sport is, and I give thanks to God for keeping me safe. A bad case of rhabdomyolysis will put you in the hospital, cause kidney failure, and even death.

Keep me in your prayers for a healthy recovery.

Until next time

-Lucas-