I knew getting through today's long run was going to be quiet the feat. Not so much to hit the mileage, but rather the route I had to take. I regrettably had to cancel a group run with the Weber girls down Huntsville canyon because my husband had to work. That meant I was doomed to a TM 20 miler! I was obviously scared. Nothing makes me more anxious than boredom, just a little factoid.
I wanted to mimic my fueling plan for SGM, so the first 4 miles were spent running to and from Smiths for fuel and even a garage sale all the way up 400E:). At least this made stepping on the TM less intimidating with only 16 more to go. I put the incline to 1% then tuned on two fans. That mimics wind, right?:) The last 10 I ran at mp (6:45). Sweaty and tired.
I fueled on an assortment of Gatorade, caffeine, GU's, banana/blueberry fruit puree, water and PB crackers, every 4 miles. (Note to self, PB crackers are a bad idea. Ridiculously dry. I tried to drown it down with red Gatorade. Gross!) This was definietly more fuel than I normally take on a long run. I usually only drink some water here and there with 1 GU for the last 10k. I wanted to see if it made the long run easier. It didn't.
I'm not going to lie, it was harder today than I would have liked, even from the start. I know this is due to not prepping well. Generally I plan ahead for long runs to make sure I have adequate sleep and diet in the days before. I didn't do any of that this time. If anything, I didn't consume nearly enough calories, and the calories I consumed were garbage. I call that double dumb. Hydration was near non-existant too. Tripple dumb. This is what happens when I work or clean the house. I forget to eat and drink. Give me a day at home with a clean house, and I'll clean out the food storage!
So, the results would have been the same- the long run got done and I ran goal mp miles for the last 10, I just didn't feel as great doing it. I think one of the best benifits to these workouts is the mental toughness you get doing it, so that you can draw on when the race gets hard. I tried to at least think of that when the TM miles got long and tiring.
I finished with 21 miles, 1 mile more than planned, just to say I could go another mile after I really wanted to be done. I also had stop a lot. It felt like a buh-jillion times, to meet the demands of my offspring and to fuel. My 3 year old came in to ask every 5-10 mins to see if I was done yet. He really wants to play steam roller today, AKA, miss and jump on mom's stomach or back. So that's still on today's docket:) In reality, I probably stopped 8 times for 30-120 seconds at a time. That almost qualifies as a DNF long run. Maybe I did intervals today instead. 7x3 miles?:) At any rate, glad to be done.
4mi hilly @ 8:55ap
7mi 1%@ 8:00ap
10mi 1%@ 6:45ap
=21 mi @ 7:12ap (2:31:xx)
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