Running 2 Miles for the Sake of the Blog

Today was an exercise in What Not To Do for a long run. 

I had a relaxing dinner and ate my now routine Sat night meal, whole wheat pasta with tomato basil sauce, accompanied by 1.5 pieces of garlic bread and a salad.  All good.

Woke up on time and started getting ready and then checked my email -- group run cancelled due to thunderstorms (we run in rain but not lightning).  Shoot.

And no access to a treadmill today until 1:00, which did not fit into my plan for the day (I'm about to go visit my godson). 

So I ate my normal long run breakfast and decided to head out solo from home since it wasn't actually raining at my house and I didn't see any lightning.  I figured I'd run the trail just over two times, and stop early if I got caught in bad weather.  Worst case scenario, if storms hit when I was at the absolute furthest point from my house, I'd only be about 3 miles from home. 

Since my schedule was 15 with 6 at race pace, I grabbed one pack of shot blocks and decided not to carry my water bottle since there are fountains.  Basically, all was well to that point.

Around mile 3 or so, I decided to mix up the route a little and run around a bit near the end of the trail instead of heading back up the trail.  Cool.  I know the area well, so I ran our boot camp loop and at one point set out on a street I'd never really run but I knew exactly where I was.  By the time I got back to the bottom of the trail to head up, I was at 8 miles. 

Sometime during those 8 miles, I'd decided I didn't really want to do race pace alone for 6 miles.  I wasn't feeling fast.  So somehow I decided to do 18 miles slow and easy. 

If I had another pack of gu or blocks, that may have been an okay decision.  Or some gatorade or something else.  But I didn't. 

I ate my pack of shot blocks at mile 8 and headed back to the top of the trail.  I got there and made the u-turn and something odd happened in my mind.

I was running w/o music (safety thing, but also didn't want to short it out if I got caught in a storm), so I was just thinking.  I was thinking about this blog.

I was thinking, wow, my total training is going to peak out with two 18 milers, one 20, and one 22 (which I'm doing in 2 weeks).  That's exactly what my schedule calls for.  And I was thinking that I'd have to write that it was perhaps the least prepared I've ever been (if not ever, at least in recent history) for a marathon.

So somehow, I hit my u-turn at the top of the trail and headed back south as planned.  But when I hit the bottom of the trail around mile 15, I kept going to do the boot camp loop again. 

Somewhere in that time, I'd decided it would be better to write that my training peaked out with one 18 miler, two 20s, and one 22.  And actually, I agree -- not just to write it, I actually think running two 20 milers will help me on race day.  And I also recognize that part of my logic was thinking about being on vacation this week.  I found out I'm going to my brother's gym in Milwaukee one day to do my long run -- that was supposed to be 18.  But if I did the 18 this weekend, then I'd only have to do 15 at the gym, including some race pace, so it would go a lot faster. 

But what kind of idiot am I????

I should know much better.  20 miles is fine, but I have to plan for 20.  I feel like I can wing any run up to 16 miles.  But if I'm going over 16, I have to take things seriously.  I have to think about what to wear, what to eat the night before and then during the run, etc. 

I had headed out ill-prepared for 15 (I really should have had 2 gus to eat), and I ended up running 20 and being even less prepared.

I think I blistered on the bottom of my left foot, and my collarbones chafed, and I was starving, and I slowed down a lot.

But either way, I got my 20 miler in.  And a dry 20 at that.  It sprinkled on me a little bit around mile 8, but I wouldn't call it rain.  I could definitely see drops on the pavement and feel it, but it never actually rained.  It's pouring now, but I'm so proud of myself for getting it done. 

I'd toyed with the idea of adding 2 miles to the 18 miler to make it a second 20 mile run for the season, but it never entered my mind to do it this weekend instead of next. 

I hestitate to say it may have worked out okay.  Though it was slow, long runs mostly don't need any speed, it's just time on your feet.  I got home and drank a recovery drink, bandaged my blistered foot, took a shower, and walked to Chipotle to get a monster "recovery" burrito.  I'm laying low for a few hours now but should be okay to hang out with my godson for the afternoon.

Maybe no harm, no foul, but being prepared to run about 12 (in terms of fuel and non-chafing), being scheduled to run 15, and actually running 20 will lead to disaster for me (and probably most other people) at least 90% of the time.  I am very lucky to have eked that one out.  Very lucky, and I know it.  Stupid, stupid decisions, and I'm lucky I didn't pay the price with major blood sugar issues, a crash and burn, or possibly worse. 

I spent much of my recovery time tracking friends who ran Chicago this morning.  What a $hitty race day.  I feel so bummed for them.  I've posted before about the fact that the Chicago marathon sucks (actually, mostly about my $hitty race there the year they cancelled the marathon mid-way through b/c they were so unprepared).  They have bad weather now 4 years out of 5.  I had friends aiming for times ranging 3:05 to 4ish.  3:05 finished 3:23.  3:20 finished 3:36.  3:30 finished 3:48.  3:40 finished 4:04.  You see how it goes.  All my pals seemed to finish about 15 minutes behind schedule, about 30 seconds/mile slower than planned.  They all made the smart decision to slow down given the heat, but man, why does anyone still sign up for this race?  The director is awful, and the weather rarely works out.  Well, I'm very glad I'm not running it again, and I'm glad all my friends had a good time, despite the disappointing times, and they'll all race another day...