The 20 Miler

Now that I have some time to write, I'll give a few details about my 20 miler this morning. Luckily, it was pretty uneventful!

I had a horrible night's sleep last night. I don't know if I was just antsy about waking up so early (4:30am on a Saturday just isn't normal for me - even recently with the higher mileage of marathon training). My older son woke me up at 2:30am saying that he had a bad dream; after I put him back to bed I went in and out of a light sleep until a few minutes before my alarm was to go off (and I turned it off so I would not wake up my wife).

I knew the weather would be warmer than I was used to, so I was going to wear shorts and a t-shirt. Hooray!! I also was going to wear the new pair of Balga socks that my sister bought for me last week. I was very apprehensive about wearing a new pair of socks for such a long run - but these worked out very well. The bottoms of the socks are thicker (padding for the long run) and the tops are thinner (better breathability - especially for the warmer weather). I would definitely recommend these socks...I may even buy another pair or two for myself.

The weather was great - and maybe a wee bit too warm for such a long run. When I walked out of the house it was 57 degrees, calm winds and a little foggy. Of course it was still dark - it was 5am. I ended up running about 3/4 of the time in sunlight and the temperature most likely rose about 10 degrees while I was outside. I may want to run a few of my last longer runs in the sun - with my sunglasses - just to get used to that before the marathon.

My plan was to keep my pace on the slower side so that my heart rate stayed lower. I chose my music accordingly - mellow. I listened to Indigo Girls, Rufus Wainright, Jack Johnson, The Eagles and Carole King.

I was able to keep my heart rate low for the first 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I kept my heart rate in the high-140s to mid-150s with the exception of hills, where it climbed into the 160s. After that I hit a few problems - first, my course started to be mainly uphill (I really need to start checking the elevation of my courses...if I would have known this fact, I would have run the course the other way!). More importantly, I started to run out of water. I brought the three 8oz flasks of water on my AmphiPod, and I did not have a chance to stow another waterbottle somewhere on my route. UGH!!! 24oz of water proved not to be enough for my close-to-four hour run in temperatures that were warmer than I was used to at this point. As a result, miles 16 through 20 were pretty tough and my heart rate stayed in the high 160s for most of that last 45 min. My finishing average heart rate was 157bpm.

However, I got through the entire run without much physical pain. I was able to walk to synagogue (1/4 mile from my house) with no issues - unlike 2 weeks ago where I hobbled there after my 18+ mile run. I'm a bit sore now - especially in my feet, calves and the side of my left knee - but I expected to be sore. I mean, come on - I ran 20 miles this morning. :-)