Week 36 Wrapup

This week was the first 20 mile run. I thought it could possibly go either way, like it could be totally disastrous or could be just fine. It ended up being mostly fine. My target pace for the run was 10:36, and I kept that pace just fine through the first 18 miles. The last two were just killer, though. I was completely drained, and stumbled through them. Those really slow last two dragged my overall pace for the 20 miles down to about 10:57. It was hot, too, but I'm running out of different ways to describe running in the heat.

But, I finished, and I was not dead. My goal all along was really to see if I could get through this first 20, since in my mind that represents the most difficult point of the marathon training. From this point out, there's one other 20, and it's a tiny bit faster pace, but that should be easier having done it once already. Every other long run from this point is some shorter distance, and then there's like a three week taper.

So, I thought all along that if I could get through this first 20, I should have no problem getting through the rest of the training and being ready for a marathon. The end of my training schedule just happens to coincide with the Park City Marathon on August 23rd, which Scott has been bugging me to do. So, since my likelihood of finishing training is all but assured, and my likelihood of finishing a marathon seems pretty high as well, I'm going to go ahead and register for it. I still don't think I'll put in a good showing, since the race starts 4000 feet higher than where I'm at and only goes uphill from there. But, it should be fun, nonetheless.

One important thing I learned from the 20 is that I feel like I need to get more energy during the long run somehow. I bought a big box of clif bars down to the Costco, and my usual long run routine is to eat one before the run, and eat another about halfway through. This worked fine for shorter runs, but now that they're getting longer, it's not quite doing it for me. Look at this week's run, where I felt like I was just completely sapped of energy those last two miles.

I can't just eat more clif bars, because I've noticed that the longer the run, the more I hate eating clif bars. They taste perfectly fine to me before the run, but during the run, they taste like poo. And not even that nice moist poo, either. It's the been sitting out in the sun for a week dried out variety. On this last run, I actually stopped at a drinking fountain and ran the rest of the clif bar under water like a raccoon so I could choke it down. So, assuming my lack of energy can be remedied by an increased intake of carbohydrates during the run, I'll have to switch to some sort of clif shot or gel or Gu or something. I've always been of the opinion that those things taste like snot, but I'd much rather have snot than poo at this point.

Starting next week I'm going to start posting the weighted moving average of my weight along with the daily weight. Since I've always maintained that the moving average is more important anyway, I probably should be posting it.