300 and 1.85 to grow on...

Have had three runs this week post-20. First was a quick three. Not so hot. Second was a 5 that started slow and got faster by the mile. Today was supposed to be four. But dang, it felt so great, I went five. Can't remember the last time I felt like tacking on an extra mile.

Weather today? 48 degrees. A bit of a drizzle. A slight breeze. I have put in a request with my friend who works at NOAA for the same weather May 6th in Cincinnati. I think the government must have some sort of top-secret weather-controlling deal in their arsenal, and she would have access to it. I'm sure she'll pull some strings. I could do without the drizzle, but it was an otherwise perfect day for a run.

I'm excited that I hit 300 miles for the year so far by finishing today's run. I'm on par for a 1,000 mile year if I can keep up about 87 miles/month for the rest of the year. Considering that last year I ran a total of 387 miles, this would be an outstanding feat.

Random thought for the day: You can never use too much Bodyglide. Ever.

Random thought number two: 23 school days left until summer vacation.

Not so random thought: 14 days until the marathon.

Ahhh, sweet, sweet taper...how I have earned ye...

20 miler number two. Check. 

 

I knew it was going to be tough. I was running on tired legs after having done three solid runs this week plus one walk around a fairly hilly zoo yesterday. And my schedule had me with a week in between twenties, but it didn't work out that way. I don't think I've ever run two twenties in a row. I don't think I really ever want to do that again. But today, I earned the taper.

I got about three miles into my run, and I realized that my shoes were not tied properly. They kept loosening to the point of annoying me, and I thought I wasn't going to put up with that nonsense for the rest of the run. So, I plunked down on the side of the road to re-lace. I was out on a road that has, I believe, one house in a two-mile stretch. The rest of it is farmland. I seldom get passed by a vehicle. Today, I did. While I was sitting on the side of the road. Tying my shoes. The driver kind of hit the brake lights, but then he kept on driving. I got up and started to run again (feeling much better about my shoes) when it started to drizzle. Just enough drizzle to keep me content but enough to make me concerned that more was to come. 

Five more minutes in, the man in the truck came back. He had driven past me, and he had gotten all the way into town when he had seen the rain coming, so he turned around to come back to see if I needed a ride. Seriously. A full five minutes after he had left me. Our town is small enough that in that five minutes, he probably had gotten all the way to his house and parked in the driveway before coming back for me. How amazing is that that he would come all the way back to check on me? (And I know. I need to be cautious out there. Believe me, I get myself into a strange headspace about running on such a remote road at times. But today, I just want to think that was pretty darn cool.)

Ten miles in, and I was running well enough. I was hitting my intervals for my run/walk, and I was on pace to be where I was last week on my 20 miler. Unfortunately, my legs felt like they had last week after fifteen miles. Crap. Honestly, I set out this morning knowing I was going to have to tough it out no matter what. I was just hoping the tough it part wouldn't come so soon. 

13 miles in, and I realized I was running low on water. Lucky ducky me, though, I run past the IGA in town. And I had $2.00 with me. I used $1.00 to buy some water from the vending machine out front. And with the other $1.00, I ran in the store and bought some of those peanut butter crackers that come in the little packet. The guy in front of me in line let me cut--I'm not sure if it was my small purchase or because he was trying to do everyone in there a favor and get my stinky butt out of there as fast as possible. But when I stepped up to pay, he asked me if I was running back to the next town. This surprised me a little, and I said that I was kind of headed that way. Turns out he's been a runner before (not running now), so he's seen me running around town. Small town strikes again. 

15 miles in, I called my husband to let him know that I was starting to hurt, but I was going to finish, so I didn't want him to worry about when I would be arriving at home. And the last five miles took a really, really, really long time. But I finished.

So when I hit the Flying Pig course, I would really like to feel like I did last week. I hope that taper will do that for me. If I feel like I did this week, it's going to be a long day. But I earned the taper. And an Anchor Steam. (My DH went out and bought me Bell's Oberon and Anchor Steam today...how lucky am I?)

The rules of long runs

We got back from our trip to Philadelphia, and I was scheduled to run 20. HA! I forgot the first rule of long runs--I don't go out to run them doing an "I might run..." with my distance. Oops. Loaded up the Camelback with water and strawberry banana gels--enough to run 20. But I set out with the mentality that I might not do 20, and I gave myself permission to turn around at any point, and guess how well that run went?

My legs were bricks. My lungs were not cooperating. My pace was turtle slow. I couldn't stop looking at my watch. Most importantly, my head wasn't in it. Damn. I was back home after 11 miles, and I was once again kicking myself and wondering what the hell I was even doing out there. I was thinking, "I have a marathon in 5 weeks, and I can't even comfortably cover 11 miles?"

Rule number 2 of long runs--remember that sometimes they suck, and sometimes they don't. I'm sure that there are plenty who disagree with me and would say that success on long runs isn't random. It's not entirely random. Clearly. There is nutrition. Rest. Previous mileage. Mentality. Even weather. But there is also this other thing, and I often know how a run is going to go within minutes of stepping out for my first mile. So, I headed out Saturday morning for my 20 miler, and it didn't suck. In fact, it went really well considering where I'm setting the bar right now.

Things that worked for me:
         I walked for about five minutes to warm up. My knee has been a little bit twitchy lately, and the little walking warm-up actually helped.
         I abandoned monitoring my mile pace. I'll do that on my shorter run days from here on out, but I have been beating myself up every single long run because I'm not remotely happy with how fast I'm running. Beating myself up isn't making me run any faster.
         I ran "easy" through mile 15. I actually did a route where the toughest miles were 8-14, so I focused on making those miles feel easy. Then, I ran consistently through the last miles.
         I took in a gel every 30 minutes. (I need to pack something else, though...I am so sick of strawberry banana power gels that I never want to see one again.)
         I finished feeling like I could do another mile. Since the marathon has 6.2 more, I was happy to feel like I wasn't dying at the end of this one.

I don't have a profound closing thought on this one. The run fell on an odd weekend. I was supposed to have run 20 last week, 12 this past weekend, then 20 again next weekend. Now I'm trying to figure out my schedule for the last weeks before the marathon. Too early to taper. So right now I'm thinking about doing another 20 next weekend, then 12, then 8, then marathon day. Alternately, I'm thinking about amping up my mileage during the week this week and running 16-18 on tired legs next weekend, then 12, then 8, then marathon. All opinions welcome.