26.2 miles on treadmill at 7:30 pm. I was planning on doing a
treadmill marathon in January or February, but today seemed as good as
any to go ahead and try one. We went to Idaho Falls today, and on the
drive back it looked like the air quality in Rexburg wasn't very good,
so I decided then my long run would be on a treadmill, and I was
planning on doing 26.2. I ate a piece of bread about 50 minutes
before I left for the gym, and then 2 cookies about 15 minutes before. I
usually take a gu before, but lately I have decided that cookies and
sweetish fish are just as suitable for simple carbs before a run. I took
4 gu's with me to the gym (I imagine it would be hard to pile cookies
or sweetish fish on a treadmill) and got all set up to go. I asked the
gym employee (my brother-in-law Chris) to change the channel so I could
watch some preseason NFL. I found yesterday that watching football
really distracts me from my running. I started out at an easy pace
(7.7 mph), and stayed around there most of the run. Every 5 miles or so
I would go a little faster, but I didn't want to push it and hurt
myself 3 weeks before TOU. I took a gu at 45 minutes, 90 minutes, 135
minutes, and 180 minutes. At about 2 hours and 45 minutes I went to hit
the lap button on my watch and a gu fell, hit the treadmill and shot
behind me. Luckily about 10 minutes later Chris came and asked if I
needed a refill on my water, which I did. He handed me my gu, got me
some water, and I was ready to finish my first treadmill marathon. Overall
this was a great run. It was the second fastest I have ever run a
marathon, and I wasn't even pushing myself by any means. I wasn't
shooting for time, but distance. I have a feeling that if I was trying
to PR (3:09:49) I could have done it tonight. My total time was 3:18:40, an average pace of 7:34.63. I would put my splits, but I only changed the speed on the treadmill like 4 times, so they are all pretty even.
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