20 Miler!! Time to taper!!

Well, this 20 miler went A LOT better than my last 18 miler. This run was with the Running Fit group. There were like 400 people there. Not a race, just a long run. This is the same course that I bombed my 10k earlier this year, and I stopped and walked a bit during my 8k last year. So I think this course had the best of me mentally. I tell you one thing... the 18 miles I did was broken into spurts... a stop at the Walgreens, a half hour break, water stops. This 20 miler, I was determined not to stop!! I dont plan on stopping during the marathon either!!

It was a simple out and back. The first 5 miles was like nothing! For some reason, 5-6 always cause me problems, mentally and physically. But past mile 6 I was ok. I got to mile 10 leisurely at 1:22:00... and this was faster than when I RACED the Crim 10 miler a month ago. Felt great at that time. Mind you, I was not "running", just easy 8:15'ish pace. I wanted to be closer to 8:30, but I felt good, and this was my prep run for the full. I was passing people left and right, and thought I was going to die soon, but it didnt happen. Hit the 13.1'ish mark around 1:47:00, so my pace was kinda even.

Not to speak too soon, the side stitches kicked in!! It was really bad on my right side for about 2 miles. Tried deep breathing, changing my breathing pattern, stretching out. It just wouldn't go away. I got a sports drink at one of the stops and took 2 cups. This seemed to help. Now I could have sworn they said that they would supply Gu at one of the stops, but no Gu. So I'm running this entire 20 miles with no fuel. I did down a Rip'it Energy Drink just prior to getting there, so that may have helped. Mile 16 is where a lot of people stopped, because it was at the finish, the 20 milers had to go back out 2 miles then return.

This was good for me, because I really wanted to simulate a race day technique... run the last 2 miles. So that's what I did. I picked off people 1 by 1. My last 2 miles were sub-8 minutes. It was really hard to pick it up. I wanted to be close to sub-7 like I do during the last 1.5 miles of my 6 mile run at home. But I finished. I felt really good. I'm with a new confidence now!!!! That 18 miler had me second guessing myself, but I did this without stopping and without Gu. So I know I'm ready. So now I'm in tapering mode... no more long runs over 14 miles. 2 quality runs per week until the week of the race. Gotta do one day of hill training just because. As you may see, I am not following FIRST, or Galloway, or Pfitz, Higdon or Daniel's. I'm doing an ala carte of each. My goal is under 3:45:00. I will feel 100% accomplished if I did sub-3:30:00.

I have this half miler next weekend. I dont know if I'm going to "run" it or not... I think I am. But those 5 miles straight uphill sounds like a killer!!! Time to psych myself up for this. And so I run on...