22 miler

This morning I ran again in New Hampshire. We are at my in laws' house dogsitting (aka walking Luke a couple of times a day, eating yummy food, and overdosing on the tennis channel). Chris and I had a late night - when you don't allow yourself to have cable for fear of watching too much TV (hm, Chris) you have to catch up on all the episodes of Mad Man that you missed. Everyone slept late, so when Mr Petru came into our room shouting "It's wake up time" it was 7:45am. I was not worried, though, because it's Fall weather, yay. Plus, the boys had a plan to spend the entire morning at the Children's Museum and the toy stores in town. Love 'em.

I started my run at 8:45, after a double serving of oatmeal and a small coffee (the only downside of being at my in laws is that they drink half caf coffee....and I forgot to bring my own). I packed water, Nuun, and ....Chocolate # 9 gel, the product of my next giveaway (to be posted on Monday). The plan was complex: 1) run 22 miles, 2) run negative splits, 3) run the last 4 miles at MP, 4) run 8:15 average pace as opposed to 8:30, as my training plan suggested, 5) suffer, 6) suffer some more, 7) take risks by getting on pace early on, and 8) use the chocolate Nr. 9 gels.

It was cool, gray and rainy in New Hamshire today. I was actually happy about that. The first few miles were rough. It's tough mentally and physically to start a run on heavy legs. I did not allow myself to recover properly after the 1/2 last week, and ended up running all my key workouts as planned (speed) or faster (tempo). I reminded myself that the goal was to suffer, and plugged along. I had a couple of podcasts prepared, and they kept me entertained for the first 10 miles. The initial plan was to run 10 miles out, 10 miles back, and then add 2 more miles. But when I got to mile 10 I knew that there was no way I would add the 2 miles at the end. Legs were already in too much pain. So, I ended up turning back at 11 miles, which guaranteed that I would run, walk or crawl 11 miles back. I stopped at mile 12 for water, and switched to listening to music. When I get tired my eyes start to be fixated on the watch, which makes for a slooow run. This time, I did not allow myself to look at the watch except at the end of each song. This worked very well, and helped me pick up the pace, in spite of a horrible headwind after the turn around. The music helped, the scenary was beautiful, and people were turning their heads watching the mad woman running in the crazy rainy and windy weather. Loved that.

I did achieve all my goals. The run was seriously painful. My legs are still heavy, even after the icebath. Yet it was an awesome run: 22 miles 8:10, with miles 19 and 20 @ 8, mile 21 @ 7:53, mile 22 @ 7:48.

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Please check back for a review of the Chocolate #9 energy gel, and the Chocolate #9 giveaway.