Yippee! Well, I did it- ran a 20 mile training run today. And surprisingly I enjoyed it! I LOVE my new Asics, no blisters. I usually wear a 7 in reg. shoes, so I had been buying 7.5 for running shoes- not big enough I guess. These Asics are an 8 and wonderful....
I do need to work on pace consistency. There were times when I'd feel good and fly, then times when I'd shuffle. Maybe that's normal, but seems I should find a more consistent pace for the marathon.
There were 5 of us this morning- Kris, Matt, Chris, Heather & me (Christi)- enough Chris names already! Anyway, started at 4:45 up by Sand Hollow Res. ran down into Hurricane and did a big loop back to Res- exactly 20 on the Garmin. In my humble opinion we had too many water stops, one every 3 miles. I think I would have been OK every 4-5 miles, but who knows? It was comforting to come across that goody bad every 3 miles anyway. I ate some dry cereal & 1/2 banana for breakfast before the run (w/ water), then had 1/2 pkg. of non-caffeine GU at mile 6, then 1/2 pack of caffeine GU at 12, and another 1/2 caffeine at 17. And of course had some water & gatorade at least a sip at most stops. But sometimes I just drank because it was there and found myself sloshing- so I cut back on the drinks for 2nd half of run.Think that worked pretty well and didn't have any stomach issues which I usually expect around mile 12. So I was happy about that.
Temp. was pretty good for us until last 3 miles of run, then it got hot. But mostly a nice, overcast morning, couldn't ask for better conditions in Aug. in St. George!
Our average pace was 11:06 when we were running (not including the 6 water stops & one gas station potty break). Obviously we were taking it really easy! I had to keep slowing myself down to stay with the group and I was afraid I would burnout later in the run if I went too fast. But really I don't like taking all day to do a long run, so I think on the next 20 miler I'd like to try going a bit faster. I have no clue what I should estimate for my marathon pace. I averaged 9:09 for the Hurricane 1/2, and 8:27 on the Spectrum 10K. I know its a big leap to a full marathon and I should expect to slow down considerably. I would be happy to run around 10 min. miles and finish around 4:20. Guess we'll see...
I never really felt I hit a "wall"- oh no, maybe my wall will be 22 or something? I did get a chest cramp around mile 11, but luckily didn't last long. Ankles got a little sore around 17/18, but only felt that when I stopped for water. Overall I think I'm in OK shape, but ask me in 48 hrs!!
So I really loved this run and am still enjoying the post run high. Have a great weekend everyone!
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