An Almost Perfect 3:50:00 Long Run

This morning I was up around 5:30 and out the door by around 6:00 a.m. for my long run. It was already 12C/54F, so I decided that I would repeat last weekend’s run in reverse but using the run/walk strategy that I want to use for my 50K race in two weeks.

The reverse direction meant that I would do the roughly 21K/13M asphalt/concrete first, then finish off the approx. 36K/22M route on dirt/gravel trails. My strategy was to run 30 minutes, then walk 3 minutes for the entire distance. So this is exactly what I did, almost to the second!

The first 2 ½ hours were in the dark, but I had my blinking armband on, to let cyclists and hunters lurking in the forest know that I was there. I also had my headlamp with me, but I only switched it on a couple times when I saw a bicycle coming or crossed a road.

When I took my walk break around the two hour point I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and had another one at around three hours. I only carried water in my CamelBak this time rather than sports drink. Somehow the combination of food and water worked really well with my stomach, I was pleased that I decided to try this.

The run went well up to almost the 3 hour point, I was maintaining almost a constant 6:00/K (9:39/M) running pace and pretty constant walking pace up to this point. But somewhere around the 3 hour point I could feel myself slowing down, so I broke out my MP3 player as a distraction. I think this helped me maintain a reasonable pace for at least another half hour. As I wound my way over the familiar trails during the last 20 minutes nothing more helped other than gutting it out, but I stuck with it and rounded the last corner after 3:50:00, for roughly a 35-36K (22M) run.

Now, almost two hours later my legs are tight and sore, but I had no trouble with cramps or nausea. My wife is baking some lasagna, so I think I’m going to feel much better really soon ;-)

So now I can start my tapering for the 50K on January 27th! Have a nice weekend.