The big one was finally here. The 20 mile long run that I had been worried about for a while. With some of my workouts not feeling so good lately this workout concerned me. If I couldn't hack the longest of the long runs it didn't bode well for the marathon in my mind. I'm dealing with some doubts obviously.
The long run I wanted to do would have taken me through some familiar long run territory around my town with similar terrain to the flying pig course. Unfortunately due to scheduling it just wasn't meant to happen. I had to do the long run on a park running path; a 1.25 mile path. That means lots of laps, and monotony right? Well, as it turns out it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The short laps allowed me to bring a water bottle with me and just leave it along the path instead of carrying water or dropping water off along the route before the run.
The long run route included a lead in path of 1 1/16 mile followed by 15 laps of 1.25 miles followed by a run out the same lead in path of about .6 miles for a total 20.5 miles that took 2 hours 44 minutes for an 8 min/mile pace.
Avg HR: 148
Peak HR: 174
Min HR: 79
Total Cal:2409
I didn't set out to run at any particular pace. I just ran at a pace that felt comfortable, and it did feel comfortable. I felt like I could have easily finished the last 6 miles or so of the marathon at that pace, which is a very encouraging sign. At that pace my heart rate hovered in the mid 140's until I got to around mile 15. From that point my heart rate started to do a steady creep upwards, but nothing out of control. I finished around the mid 160's which is typical for a race pace.
The path itself is flat to rolling hills. There are no major climbs, but it is a consistent group of small rolling hills. It was perfect for a long run of this type. The weather was cool in the high 40's and overcast.
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