So....Since i went on vacation, there's been a whole lot of training going down...Let's look back.....There's last Thursdays mega bonk.....then there's last Saturdays 5 mile Time Trial. Then.....SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!! That was our first official 20 mile run.
The bonk was a little disconcerting. But I will say, it was a direct result of my own poor fluid management. First off....I went into the run somewhat dehydrated. Mistake #1, 2 and 3.....Especially when the temp was during the hottest week of the summer that we've experience yet. At 4am, the outside thermometer read 85 degrees, and it was about 80% humidity. Let's just say.....my body was done at mile 10 and a half....and it was a jog/walk to get back to the comfort of home. I did bring an energy drink, but turns out it was a diet....and had no calories...not a good thing for the conditions.
I spent my off Friday re-hydrating and resting to run fast on sat of the time trial. When I showed up, I realized I was going to have to run naked......errr....without the services of my garmin for mile splits. So I went and ran based on feel. Remarkably....I beat my last on the time by 5 seconds. I'm actually very happy with that. It shows consistency, which is what I need at this point of my marathon training.
Sunday was going to be the first of many mental checks. It was our first of many 20 mile runs. 4 laps of our 5 mile time trial course. Not the most scenic, but a good place to just click off the mileage. My goal was to do it in 3 hours.....and that's EXACTLY what I managed to do. On top of that.....I pulled off my last mile at a 7:40 pace. Mostly because I just wanted to get the darned thing over. I started at 5am.....and finished at 8am. By 8am....it was already 95 degrees, with ridiculous humidity.
Monday and Wednesday were nice easy runs with my buddy Paul! He's back with the group, and we've started meeting each other again! I'm really glad to see him back with the group....even happier to get my running partner back. It's going to make that jump to 5 mile mornings on Mon and Wed that much easier.
Tuesday was a 70 minute Tempo at 90% of our marathon pace. Again, even on the Uber tired legs...I hit EVERY SINGLE TARGET TIME! I love it whe you can do that. And I got 8.7 mile in doing it.
Finally.....was Thursdays 14 miler that mixes in 5x800m. No bonk this week. I finished strong and felt great throughout the entire run. So far this week (including Sunday), I have 54 miles in the books. Tomorrow closes this weeks chapter, and we have a 15x300m hill repeat segment. My targets are 1:24, so look for a report on how I did. We also have another 20 mile run on Sunday, so look for that one too!
Until then.....LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!
