Another weekend, another 20 miles

I switched my long run to Sunday this week to accommodate a social life. What? Social activities? What are those? That's how I've been feeling lately as I say no to anything that doesn't fit into my 10pm Friday night curfew or Saturdays being consumed by pre-running activities, running forever, and then post-running ice baths, naps, meals, etc. So in an effort to restore some balance, the 20 miler was moved to Sunday. I ran home from the train station friday instead of carpooling, quickly scurried off to the bbq, only a little late and had a blast. And didn't make it to bed until 1am, and didn't care. Oh glorious friday night!

Saturday morning we had breakfast with friends and then went for a slow leisurely bike ride around a small agricultural island nearby. It was gorgeous out and so necessary to make room for such fun at the end of summer in Portland. We saw tons of baby animals and rode slowly and took in all the flowers and even stopped for blackberry snacking along the way.

Fiance and I stayed in Saturday night and ate a huge pasta meal, and according to plan I was in bed by 10. It was going to be hot today so I wanted to get out early, but woke up a little later than usual and didn't make it out the door until 7:45.

Today's run was pretty uneventful. Miles 1-5 I was cruising, at mile 5 I jumped on the train and rode it 3 stops to avoid my least favorite part of the run. Miles 5-10 were through NW Portland and involved my only pit stop, at, of course, Starbucks. I had a Clif Shot at mile 6 and the Espresso one at mile 10 and then planned to meet Fiance at mile 15 for a cinnamon roll break. After last weeks success I decided to test drive that fuel source one more time and then if all went well have him bring one when he meets me at mile 18. I got to the meeting point half an hour ahead of schedule (wow!) and knew I couldn't stop running, so I didn't end up meeting him until mile 18. I quickly ate a cinnamon roll and guzzled a ton of water and took off for my last 2 miles. Just that 7-8 minutes stopped left my legs very heavy, but the sugar did me well. I had a slight cramp for a little while, which I think was water related. I made it home in 3.5 hours exactly and headed straight for the ice bath.

Now it's time for some lunch! The long runs are officially over which has me feeling quite a few things:
Can I really do this? Shouldn't I run 20 miles next weekend too? Won't I go crazy during the taper? (yes, probably) What if I spend all my free time eating instead of running? What if my new shoes aren't broken in by then? (sidenote: had planned to run in my current shoes, but my knees have been bothering me in the way they only do when my shoes are worn out, so I bought new ones (exactly the same as the current ones I love) and plan to break them in on my taper runs over the next 3 weeks.)

Doubt creeps in even after a completely successful 20 mile run. Amazing. It's all in your head though, and I will spend the next 3 weeks reminding myself of that!

20 miles!!!! is a long way to run

It took me so long to map out a route on google pedometer last night that I was feeling rather discouraged at the true reality of how long 20 miles is when I went to sleep last night. I woke up ready to go though, earlier than I needed to get up really, but I hopped out of bed and started my hour of prep before heading out the door. I had loaded up hours of podcasts in an effort to stave off the boredom that hit me during my mid-week 10 miler. (I resorted to calling my best friend and then my sister and looking like a moron I am sure as I ran down the road talking on my speakerphone...the things boredom will lead us to.) The first 5 miles flew by, and really now that I think about it, so did the rest of them. I was trying to refine my water and fuel intake and did manage to drink a lot more fluids this time around, but also had to stop a few times to go to the bathroom. Thank goodness for the frequent appearance of Starbucks and their nice clean bathrooms!

I cruised along at a pretty good pace, trying to remind myself to slow it down every once in a while. At mile 12 I realized I was more than 8 miles from home and would have to alter my original plan to run back home, so I ran to 16 miles and then decided to take the train to the stop that is 4 miles from home. While I waited for the train in front of a bakery that was just oozing delicious smells I decided to use my emergency money to purchase an emergency cinnamon roll, which I then devoured swiftly. It fueled me through my last FAST four miles, at the point I was feeling great and wasn't going to slow down for anything.

My left knee bugged me consistently throughout the run, and I'm icing it now. Other than that things went great! and I am considering altering my training plan to do another 20 next week to build up my confidence a little more. But we'll see, I am wary of overdoing it when things are going well.

Now I am off to eat and take a nap and rest up for date night with Fiance.