The Daily Log 12/28/08

Distance: 20.04 miles
Time: 2:59:35
Pace: 8:58/mile
Weight: 194lbs
Terrain: Moderate inclines and declines over first half, gently rolling second half
Temperature: Cool, sunny and breezy
Gear: Adidas Long-Sleeved Climacool Shirt, Adidas Running Shorts, Gobbler Grind Running Cap, iPod, Nike Air Zoom Vomero Shoes
Hydration: Water, Gatorade
Fuel: Tri-Berry GU Energy Gel
Medical: None
Recovery: Stretches, ice, Aleve, menthol rub
Shoe Mile Count: 263.98 miles
Days until Marathon: 21

And so it's in the books. 20 miles.. the Mount Everest of the training portion. My legs are sore and I feel like I want to hibernate, but I got through it and now can start tapering for the race. The home stretch, if you will, is finally here. If my training were itself a marathon, I'd be at around mile 24. The hard work is done, now I just need to stay upright and I'll make it.

So, where to begin... I feel like I want to tell a big long story. After all, I just dedicated almost 3 hours of my life to the thing. These posts might be dry and repetitive, but so is training for a marathon (except when it rains). I suppose I will spare any random viewers from rambling on all night about it, but you know... give me a little rope, it's not every day you run 20 miles (thank God).

How about I confine it to some bullet points?

Weather: Perfect. Unlike the trying conditions for last week's 18 miler, it was relatively warm, the roads were clear, and although a little breezy, I really couldn't have asked for much better conditions in late December.
Course: Intermittently hilly over the first half, the second half was, by design, pretty gently rolling with only a couple of inclines. It certainly wasn't as flat as Arizona will be, but even Jill (who ran her first 10 miler today over a similar second half route) liked the course, which definitely should tell regular readers something about the terrain.
Injuries: None really. My shin was just a little sore for the first mile or so, but I didn't notice it after that. Little niggles cropped up here and there, but nothing that persisted, and although everything hurt at the end, early signs are that it's simply a result of my legs hitting hard ground God knows how many thousands of times. My primary goal for today was to make it through without getting injured and, knock on wood, I think I pulled it off.
Pace: 8:58/mile was certainly faster than I was aiming for, but when I finished, I knew if my life had depended on it, I probably could have muscled my way through another few miles, so I will take that to mean I didn't overdo it. I never felt like I was going too quickly. I wore an iPod today (until the batteries annoyingly went out about 45 minutes from the end), and was singing along with the tremendous songs I'd selected, so I clearly wasn't overly taxed.
Energy: Through about 15 miles, I felt fine, but by 18 I was definitely struggling. I waited too long to take my gel this time and although I finally did (at mile 18), it took about a mile to kick in, so the 19th mile was without question my slowest and hardest. It's possible I'd hit the infamous "wall", although I've always assumed that hitting the wall was like falling in love - if you're not sure, it hasn't happened. So maybe not. Anyway, once the fuel had taken effect, I was able to pick it back up again on the final mile, and a quick check of my watch revealed that a slight uptick in pace would get me in under 3 hours, so I went for it, and succeeded by 25 seconds.

The longest run remaining will be 13 miles next Sunday, and that will be the only remaining occasion between now and the race that I'll run more than 10 miles. Only just over a month ago I ran that distance for the first time ever, and now it's part of my "warm down". The ability of the human body to adapt, even one as doughy as mine, is really quite remarkable.

Special shout out to Jill. Her first 10 miler happened by accident today, thanks to her peerless lack of directional sense which led her to go a mile and a half off course, but she's naturally thrilled to have managed the distance, regardless of how it happened, and should now be well prepared for the Half.

3 more weeks!

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