I've been both dreading and looking forward to today's run. 22 miles is a long way to run without a finish line waiting for you! Training Peaks said this about today's run: "Just focus on finishing. Remember, this is your last long run. When you finish, it's tapering time. Many runners mistakenly take advantage of their well earned fitness and run this last long run too fast. DO NOT make that mistake, save that effort for race day. (Pace:10:35-10:50 /mile)"
With that in mind, I planned my route for today's run. When I leave my house I have two choices - up or down. I chose to go up, I knew that would keep me from running too fast. I also ran with a light for the first 10 miles so I wouldn't fall again. I was hoping to finish in about 4 hours, that would have been at the upper end of my planned pace. If you read my weekly recap, you know that didn't happen!
I don't really like to overshare. (So why am I a blogger, right?) Anyway, in a nutshell, I am dealing with lots of side affects of peri-menopause, one of the worst being insomnia. Bottom line, I really didn't sleep much all week. Some nights I'd get about 3 hours, others maybe 6, and those were interrupted. It was the "stare at the clock and the ceiling" type, not worrying about anything, just not sleeping. Definitely not enough sleep. It is what it is, other than taking a sleeping pill, there's not much I can do. Fortunately, this only happens about once every other month so I'm very hopeful that I will be well rested on November 7th.
So, back to my run...
I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and after about 10 minutes of ceiling staring, knew I might as well get going. I was out the door at 4:45. My legs felt pretty good, my right knee is a little tender from Thursday's fall, but I can't blame it for slowing me down.
I ran the first 10 miles in 1:54:47, 11:30 pace. Not great, but not too terrible because this had the biggest hill of the day in it. I made a pit stop at home and exchanged my light for sunglasses. I was still feeling pretty good about things at this point.
At the 14 mile mark a made another pit stop at the park. My GI was a bit off, but I was determined to keep going. This was my last chance for 20 miles or longer. Mile 17 was my slowest because I started feeling sick to my stomach again! I was pretty discouraged and feeling sorry for myself. I really gave myself a talking to and reminded myself that my Mom went through menopause at the same time she was going through chemo. That didn't make my stomach feel any better, but it did make me determined to finish!
One last pit stop just before mile 18 and then I was determined to get home. Luckily I had run a big enough loop that the only way to get home was to finish my 22 miles! No shortcuts at this point and Les was an hour away on a bike ride. Mile 20 was my third fastest mile at 10:40. I was happy to see my pace drop to about 9:30 for a little bit during that time. I hit 22 miles about a quarter of a mile from home but I stopped by watch immediately! I was done.
I'm starting to wonder if GU is the culprit with my stomach issues. Until late last year I'd always used Hammer Gel. I'm going to use Hammer Gel next week and see how I do. Although I used GU during my 25k and didn't have any problems, so I just don't know what is going on!
I've had several hours to think about this. While my pace wasn't what I wanted, I'm glad I went the distance. Surprisingly, my legs aren't feeling too bad. My plan for the marathon will now include Imodium.
A bunch of data:
22 miles in 4:32:29, 12:23 pace
Ave HR 128
Max HR 151
Calories burned 1,116
1,129 feet ascending
1,207 feet descending
Recovery time 53 hours
Average temperature 76
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