Denouement

Easy run in Denver before heading back to Utah.  Ave pace 8:45.

Ran with SF group.  Went a little faster than they normally do, at about 8:40 pace after the first mile.

I  was supposed to run with a friend but they didn't show up :(.  It's much harder for me to run alone than with a friend, especially since I didn't have my mp3 player because I thought I would have a companion.  Hmm.

These can only be categorized as easy miles because they are slower than marathon pace, but I was pleased with being able to keep up a faster pace on an easy long run.  The average pace after the first mile was 8:07, with some variation (fastest mile was 7:48 and slowest was 8:23).  It felt harder than an 8:45 pace, my most common area for an easier run.  I was able to keep to the three steps per breath (in or out) in general, though actually timing it according to the steps seemed an effort to me.  Anyone know whether a marathon should be run at 2 or 3 steps per breath?  It seems to be kind of in between the two patterns to me. 

Ran up Payson Canyon.  Was lucky that Craig showed up.  We ran together for the first four miles before he had to turn around.

1 - 8:35 warming up, feeling good

2 - 8:06

3 - 8:11

4 - 8:17

5 - 8:43

.38 - 8:44 pace

Total time up - 45:10, 8:24 pace, much better than two weeks ago (see Aug 2 blog) where ave pace up was 8:54.  I looked at each split going up from Aug 2 and I was better today on every leg (9:20, 8:50, 8:17, 8:44, 9:20, something like that - my husband just snatched the gps from my hands).

Once I turned around and headed downhill I didn't push it at all (just under 8 minute pace coming down).  I think I will do all downhill Payson run next Thursday, going downhill faster,  and switch off between these two workouts for the next month.

This was an easy run, but I chose an especially hilly route without thinking about it.  Started uphill and thus gave myself a big fat 10:28 first mile.  Then I was running down Harry's Hill in Salem so pace picked up.  There were dark clouds to the north around Springville/Mapleton/SF.  By mile four I am down Zeffir hill and it is sprinkling.  Mile 5 brings a huge downpour, and I was wondering if I was going to get shocked in the ears because I had my MP3 player on but thought that maybe the action of turning it off would be more dangerous than leaving it on.  While it was raining hard a biker passed me from behind, and tried to say something to me.  I didn't see him (or hear him) until he passed me and had his head turned toward me.  I let out a huge scream, because it gave me quite a fright and I am a scaredy cat.  The poor guy, he probably had something very witty to say about the downpour that got swallowed up in my scream.  Well, that showed him!  Did I mention yesterday that I flagged down a car down Payson Canyon because there were two dogs on the side of the road barking at me and I was afraid?  My husband was not pleased I was more afraid of the dogs than a stranger.

My overall pace was 8:52, including the slow first mile.

Tomorrow is my first EVER 20 miler.  Does that mean I get to eat whatever I want today or tomorrow?  I am still trying to lose weight which means I probably shouldn't do either. 

I did it!  I ran my first 20 miler!  Overall pace 8:08.

So we started at 5am at the Stake Center in SF.  I thought we started rather fast (mile one and two were 8:27 and 7:57).  I did loops when people stopped because I think the group stops too often and/or too long and I want to shorten the breaks to make the long training runs more like a race environment.  I ended up running with Alison and Craig for quite a bit of the run.  At Osborns (6 mile point) we met up with Gina and McKenzie, Pat Loss, and a fast couple from out of town.  I had planned on doing some marathon pace miles after Harry's hill (a 1 mile hill), but these fast runners were right ahead of me, and Pat encouraged me, so I started my tempo portion and he and I caught up to them (7:13 mile for mile 8), then the uphill started and my pace slowed but I was able to hang on to the fast crew ok up to the top of Harry's (splits were rather slow though, 7:55 for mile 9 and 8:44 for mile 10).  Mile 10 included some recovery jog.  Then when we started downhill and I pushed my pace again through the Salem stake center (7:30 mile 11 and 7:05 mile 12).  After this we slowed down a bit but kept to about 8:10 pace overall, with some faster and slower miles.  At 18-19 miles I felt pretty tired and like I was hitting a wall, but Alison was a great motivator and encouragement.  At the 20 mile mark I stopped and gave Alison a hug, I was so excited to have done it.  Then we split and she headed for home and I headed for my car.  On the last mile or so alone I got a funny image in my head like I was Forrest Gump and I was running like when he first run and his leg braces fell apart as he run and flew off him.  Only I imagined that my legs were going to be the pieces falling off me, perhaps at the hip bone, perhaps at the knee.  My legs were tired by the end!  I guess this is what the 20 miler is for.

When I got home I filled my tub with all the ice in the house and cold water.  I got in the tub and lined it with three plums, three fig newtons, and a bottle of water and told myself I couldn't get out of the tub until it was all gone.  So that served two purposes.  I forced myself to start refueling and I got my ice bath in.  After a hot shower, I got into some jeans and when I tried to put my second leg on I fell onto the floor.  While having a still damp foot may have had something to do with it, I couldn't help but to giggle at myself because my stiff legs probably are the main culprit for my clumsiness.  So, I also took 800 mg of ibuprofen.  I am hoping I can recover sufficiently for training next week.  We'll see!

Side note, I am down 17 pounds from tax season and am only one pound away from a realistic weight, but I will try to lose throughout my training if I can because my ideal racing weight is probably still 16 pounds away.  Every pound should help!