I got my 70 mile week

                                                                                                 

If you talk to me for more than 5 minutes I will most likely tell you I ran 70 miles last week. In 6 days and no 2 a days (and 1 swim). Going into my Sunday run with 15 scheduled was going to give me 65 for the week. That taunted me all night Saturday.

So Sunday during an easy breezy downhill at mile 3 I decided I would make it a 20 miler. My longest run to date is 17. I've done that twice. The rest of my long runs have been 15.

I will preface this by saying all hail to the marathoner. Some funky shit happens after 15.

Here's my Garmin for the 20. It took 2:27 minutes for an avg pace of 7:22. The two 10 mile splits were almost identical. Only a 30 second difference. I never looked at my garmin past mile 10. Well, to check for mileage but not pace. Here's how I felt:

Conditions: 80-90 degrees and 95% humidity. Some shade, some full sun. 688 feet elevation gain. Mostly flat with a few monster hills. No breakfast, no bars, no food. a small handheld of G2. I am so lucky...I really am....that sounds like a bad set up. lol

Miles 1-2: I parked at Raleigh Running Outfitters. No idea which was I was going to run. I went a new way that started uphill.

Miles 3-4: Total downhill. This is when I decided to go for 20. weeeeee!

Miles 5-10: I made a deal that if I stayed slower for the first 10 I could spaz out the next 10 and run whatever.

Miles 11-13: Boring...Easy E, Lady Gaga, GNR and Marilyn were not cutting it anymore.

Miles 14-15: It got really hot out and my 9 oz of G2 was long gone. I knew I needed a water fountain but I didn't want to stop. I was afraid I would lock up and screw myself out of my run and still be far from my car. I found a fountain and stopped for 3-4 minutes to drink and dunk my head in water. And to pick the nats off my torso. Clearly a priority! Some guy was watching me and smiled. I was HOT and didn't feel like addressing it at all. I sneered and left. That was in lieu of the sucker punch I could have laid out at that moment! I started back totally fresh. PHEW! I probably told my legs I loved them 10x....for real, lol.

Miles 16-17: excitement! I was almost done and running farther than I ever have before. Woohoo

Mile 18: small rolling hillls. My quads started to hurt. I needed to drink. but had nothing. I got kinda panicky.

Mile 19-20: Huge uphill finish. I had been averaging the same pace and effort until now. Suddenly it felt like someone was putting out cigars on my outer quads. I seriously thought a had a horsefly in tow. I swatted my legs then realized they just hurt from the hill. I was a little excited because I wanted to feel the pain that everyone talks about.  So, I thought okay. I can deal with cigar burn pain. Fuck you!

yep, that's about right. lol

I hauled ass up the hill as fast as I could without compromising my form. Hello, a lot of my peeps travel that road. Form is more important than speed. I never like to look spent. But there was no way in hell my last mile was going to be slow!! If it was flat I guarantee it would have been sub 7. lol.

So, yeah. I was so excited. I met two goals: a 20 miler and a 70 mile week. Today I was nervous to wake up. I was afraid I'd have a shitty recovery run or not have any legs, lol. I did 8 at 7:23 and felt like nothing ever happened! Sheeeeit!  But I will say I feel better when I'm running that when I'm walking. Walking is a bitch. Stairs are not my friend! I miss my 4" wedges!

I'm kind of excited at how the higher mileage stuff is treating me..we'll see...thanks for listening : )


Later Taters!
xoxo