Yet another long run

Or how about "The Long and Winding Road" which was one of the more appropriate song titles that was on my ipod today? Whatever, another 20 miler is now in the books and it's nice to sit now by the fireplace with my glass of Keith's Amber Ale with pizza in the oven for supper. Actually my glass is empty, perhaps I need a refill. Hydration is key to recovery, right?

Marathon and Beyond has a great article in the most recent Jan/Feb issue (see table of contents for articles summary) by Guy Avery on goal setting and training which has got me thinking about the obvious that "you can't do on race day what you haven't trained for". Which comes back to today's long run which was meant to stress and simulate conditions that will occur on April 16th. Namely I will get tired and sore and will dearly want to stop but there will still be 5 or 6 more miles to go. I like to say that the main purpose of the long run is to get to the last few miles where you are (usually) tired. Granted, there are days when it's a slog from the 1st step but what you do in training while tired will pay dividends on race day both mentally and physically.

Today's run was done from home as my usual Boyden Lake route was canceled with Andrew who was away for most of the week and not up to another long one. Maybe next week, I miss the company. However, only about 1/2 mile into the run I ran into a friend from work who I was surprised to see on the roads. Les is just getting into running and is preparing for his very 1st race, a 1/2 marathon at the Bluenose International Marathon in Halifax on May 20th. We ran together for a couple of miles and then continued our separate ways, Les to his warm home and myself for 17 more miles. But it was a nice break; long runs go so much quicker with company.

Back to my music and listening to some podcasts as I did 2 loops of the town for 12 miles before refilling my gatorade and heading out of town on the highway for the real meat of the run. The next 4 miles were at a slightly faster pace (close to 8:00) and into the steady 10mph wind with temps around 34C (felt a bit cool). Finally it was time to turn for home and to see what was left in the tank for the last 4 miles which I hoped to do around marathon pace. There was still a bit of energy left as I managed 7:26, 7:28, 7:19 and 7:08 with heartrate slowly climbing (along with the hills). It was sooo nice to stop! Another one in the books....

Oh yeah, recap for last week was 6 runs for 70 miles and a Parrot Predictor now falling to 3:20. I think there is hope for my goal of 3:10 if I can just make it through the next 3 weeks in one piece and then begin the taper. Time now for some delicious Chocolate Fudge Crackle vanilla ice cream, mmmm! Not good for the diet but the furnace is hot tonite.

Happy running!