Today was my long run. I usually do these on Saturdays but switched it to Friday this week because I am heading to Madison this weekend to volunteer for Ironman Wisconsin and to register for next year. Pretty good reason to take a few days off marathon training I'd say. Todd and I decided to do a 22 miler today, my last long run before the marathon. We met at around 8:30 and headed out knowing the day was humid and heating up quickly. By mile 2 we were drenched in sweat, so came to the conclusion that it's one of those sneaky humid days. I admit I was a little concerned right off the bat about the distance. I just didn't feel like my legs had 22 in them. I have learned from the past not to judge a run by the first few miles, but this feeling didn't shake anytime soon. Around mile 6-7 we stopped at Whole Foods to take a drink and gu break. I thought about speaking up about my concerns, but didn't. After the stop we hopped onto the greenway trail. A long, straight shot for a couple miles. Todd was in charge of the route and it all of a sudden dawned on me that we needed water, like now. I non-chalantly asked if there was water coming and Todd acted like he hadn't really thought of that. Uh-oh! I stuck my face in a fountain and then finally we found a bike store along the path and stopped for water. I was so thirsty! This was a dumb mistake on our part. It proved to be too little too late. It had been over 3 miles since we had water and would be at least that again going back. After this point, we both sort of lost it. Now we needed water every mile and our bodies were trying to make up for the loss in fluids. Our pace was slowing, we were stopping at every possible water stop and it was just long and painful. Our 22 miles became 19 and I was very happy with that. Our average pace ended at 8:20, which in my opinion is very good considering. Looking back at the splits, it's obvious we struggled at the end.
Well, live and learn. The good news is I learned from a couple weekends ago and took my recovery very seriously. I ate something right away, replenished the fluids, stretched, cooled down, ate a good meal and my recovery went very smoothly.
