There's a First Time for Everything

Well, yes, I am still alive and kicking. I realize it's been quite some time since my last post, but life and training continue on. Here's a brief, bullet-point update of events since my last post:

1. A sixteen mile run that went MUCH better than the fifteen mile run from the previous post.

2. My Nike+ Sensor died.

3. Three weekends ago, I went out for what was to be my 18 mile run. The first 10.5 miles were great, and I felt good. Then I turned around to come home, and was hit with winds of 30-40 mph that I later found out blew over some utility POLES (not LINES, mind you, but POLES). Needless to say, I could barely walk against this wind, let alone run against it. So I ended up walking about the last 6 miles or so, for a total of just over 16 miles instead of the 18 I had planned on. Oh, yeah, then it started raining and it felt like my skin was being flayed from my body.

4. Right after returning home from the wonderful run described immediately above, we took our oldest daughter into the emergency room with a fever of 106. Doctor said it was something "viral", which seems to be doctor speak for "we can't really tell why this is happening."

5. The next weekend, we took our youngest daughter into the emergency room after she fell out of a swing. She has a broken arm, and has a pretty cast (she calls it her "purple") on it for the next couple weeks.

6. All of the usual midweek training runs went off without much to-do. On the treadmill, but that's ok.

And that takes us to last Sunday. The big culmination of my training: the 40 mile week, capped off with a 20 mile run on Sunday. The midweek runs of 5-10-5 were nothing out of the ordinary. On Saturday, I sat down with MapMyRun.com and plotted out a route that, rather than covering new territory, would allow me to stop by the house quickly and refill my water bottle with Gatorade, and pick up another bottle of water and a few more gels. I was a little apprehensive since technically I hadn't run further than 16 miles before. Call it mental toughness training.

Really, the run itself was pretty noneventful. Sure, it was hard, but doable. My splits were pretty even for the most part (I'll post them here in a minute), but they did get a bit slower as I went along. I gel'd on a regular basis (at :15, :45, 1:15, 1:45, etc.). I felt like I hydrated pretty well (I went through 2 bottles of water, and a drink bottle and 3/4 of Gatorade), and it seemed like I had something left to push the last mile just a bit. I think that when I get to that last mile, my body realizes that "this is it" and allows me to push just a little more than I thought I could. As I described it to my sister, and I know it sounds weird, but the run was better than and worse than I thought it would be. That's the only was I can describe it.

After the run I experienced something that was equal parts heaven and hell: the ice bath. I asked my sister about it, and she thought it would be a good idea, so when I got home, I filled the tub about half way with cold water (no hot or warm water at all), and then added a bag of ice. I soaked for about 12-15 minutes. My legs hurt and felt numb all at the same time, but it really seemed to help. The day after the run I felt good with very little soreness, and today is even better.

Here are the splits from my run:

Miles 1-5: 57:20, 11:29 per mile
Miles 5-10: 57:29, 11:30 per mile
Miles 10-15: 59:08, 11:49 per mile (this is when I stopped to refuel)
Miles 15-20: 58:02, 11:37 per mile

Total : 20 miles, 3:52, 11:36/mile.

Not too shabby. My sister is worried that she'll die the last 9 miles because she hasn't had any runs longer than 17 miles, but let me tell you this: She's a rock-star, and will totally blow it out of the water. I have NO worries.

Well, now it's on to the taper. And the race is in 18 days. WOW.