long run | The Accidentally Running Mama

Thankfully today is a Rest Day. Ok, actually I should do some swimming or Yoga. Maybe I will, but honestly I probably won’t. I might take a power nap later if that counts. Doesn’t it?

So how did these last 2 days go?

Pretty good if I do say so.

Let’s start with the Cut-Down. I went into this confident and I do think that might make a bit of a difference. What has also helped is that the temperatures cooled to perfect fall temps. Yes, indeed, that makes a huge difference. I have to say this was hands down my BEST cut-down. I felt good. I felt confident and my splits are very pretty if I do say so myself and I do:) I did need to stop around mile 5 as I thought I had something in my shoe. Took shoe/sock off and all looked good until I got home with bloody toe. My feet are going to need some major TLC when Marine Corps Marathon is over. Without further ado, here it is:

Total Time: 1:40:02

Splits: 10:53. 9:56, 9:54, 9:48, 9:42, 9:35, 9:25, 9:11, 9:09, 12:30

Pretty sure I was about to have a heat attack by the end of mile 9, but then I remembered this was supposed to be hard and pushed till the end of the mile. I do admit as soon as my watch marked the mile, I slowed down. A lot!

I did this run in the afternoon which did concern me as I was planning on my 18 the next morning. The whole point of the 18 though was to run on tired legs and that’s what I did. I plotted out a route not that I ever follow it exactly, but it is enough to get me where I need to go. I started this run with some of my fellow MRTT Mama’s and we did about 6 miles together. Then off to face the miles alone. This was a good combination as I will ultimately be running the marathon alone.

I used a combination of shot blocks, sports jelly beans, Gu, and at mile 12 I stopped to refill my water bottles at a Dunkin Donuts. If you know me, you know that I can’t NOT get a coffee. So I took a 5 minute coffee break and gulped down a small (which I never get) iced latte. I’m not really sure that I would do it again. Although maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to do since I did finish my 18.

Although, I did get a little help from my friends:):)

As I said, I had my run plotted out. I planned to stop at mile 16 at my friend Genine’s house as she offered to leave water in a cooler for me. I’ll be honest once I stopped I REALLY didn’t want to start up again. But not only was she sweet enough to leave me the water in a cooler, but an inspiring note that really did help push me to keep moving. It became my temporary mantra, “Finish Strong!”

So I kept going, chanting until I hit the hill. I didn’t intentionally plan to end my run on a hill, but it seems to happen to me a lot depending on the way I go. I think this is a positive thing as we all know running up hills is good training. The I remembered that the Marathon ends on a Hill literally! So then I changed my mantra to….

CHARGE THE HILL!

Hey it worked, because I had really good splits at the end.

Moving Time 3:08:26

12:45, 13:01, 10:39, 10:35, 10:46, 11:12, 10:25, 10:32, 10:17, 11:11, 10:52, 10:20, 10:35, 10:32, 11:21, 10:38, 10:18 & then since Garmin didn’t record whole 18 2.36

So today, I am tending to my feet. Doing some stretching and just as importantly catching up on all the things that I have let slide while putting in the miles.

How do you balance it all?

So today was a BIG day for me. Today was a test. A test that I passed. Barely. It was hard as hell, but I completed the task at hand (or foot). Today I ran for the VERY first time 20 miles. Did I hit “the wall?: Maybe, but I kept on going. I did it in 3:57:02 burning over 2000 calories which I think I may have consumed since I finished.

So why the test?

You may remember my post Can’t Always Get What You Want

Where I talk about how close I came to possibly being in this years NYC Marathon.

Obviously, I didn’t get in, but it was there in the back of my mind. Could I run a Marathon if I wanted. Could I push myself? I didn’t get the opportunity to find out, so I focused on the Hat Trick training which worked for me. But in my mind, the seed was planted. I may do the NYC Marathon in the future, but I wanted to test my limits now. I have friends that are going to Philly to do the Gore-Tex Marathon in a few weeks. I’ve been toying with it, but haven’t made a decision. I could even do a half. I could call it a day and just wait till next race season. I’ve pushed a lot this year. A lot more than I ever thought that I would. But I was curious if I could push myself for a long training run. I wanted to see if I could do it. Dawn had one today. So I tagged along. Why not? Just a fun day with a friend. But I told her I would do the 20 and she got me there.

Before today the most I’ve ever run in one day is a little more than 13 miles. Training for the Hat Trick, I did have days where I would run 13 after running 5 & 8 in the preceding days. I ran 22 total when I did the Hat Trick. I needed to see if I could do the 20 though.

I never fully understood how heavy the legs would feel on a long run like this. There were decent hills too and as the miles rose it felt like someone was adding weight to my legs. Since I didn’t “need” this run for any other reason than to test myself, I probably (no probable here) would have stopped without my running buddy. I would have hated myself later, but I still would have stopped. She needed it, but she also knew that mentally I needed it. We plodded through this run with a good solid pace even up those big hills. It was worth it, when we hit the 20 though.

What did I learn about pushing it to 20 today?

Don’t do Crossfit with wall balls the day before.
Don’t do a 6 mile hills two days before
I can do it.
I am ready, I just need to decide if now is the time.

So as I ponder these things, I will finish my wine, eat my chocolate, and go to bed as I’m tired!

What limits do you push?

The Accidentally Running Mama

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Testing the Limits