First 20 mile run ever today...and my oh my...it was SLOW. Steady, relentless, barely uphill and flat for 18 miles...but done, by golly it's done.
I decided that the slight uphill route was better than running it as a slight downhill, as it mimics the basic pattern of the bulk of the marathon I will be running. It's funny how each and every mile seems to be its own special torture, but I ran a faster 2nd half than first half and pretty even splits across the board. My watch stops auto-magically when I stop, so I need to turn that feature off on the next run and work on walk breaks instead of complete stops. It's amazing how much that time adds up, and I won't have the liberty of a stopped clock on race day. My moving pace today was about 0:25 off of goal pace, and my real pace (if you add in all of the stop breaks) was about 1:25 off of goal pace. According to what I have read, this is consistent with the recommended pacing for long runs.
My hydration belt was a pain in my behind today both literally and figuratively. I loosened it before the run and wore a slick pair of shorts...it kept bouncing and at about 8 miles or so I gave up and chucked it into AMA's pannier. The run got a lot more fun after that!
I seemed to handle the whole nutrition/hydration thing just about right. There was no epic bonk, and my stomach seemed to hold up okay. I took one gu every four miles. I battled some pretty intense nausea after my run, and really thought that I was going to lose the meager contents of my stomach when the train started moving. Luckily, I didn't. I waited until I got home and showered before I ate. Mac & Cheese, a Pear and String Cheese went down before the nap. I will experiment with eating something more substantial, sooner, after the next long run. Part of this was a logistic issue (long transit home, cold weather), and therefore can be remedied next time.
I tried to drink every mile until 12, with extra to get the gu's down. I thought I had hydrated plenty, as I actually needed one bathroom stop, but I was still pretty dehydrated when I got home. The bathroom stop(s) were at about mile 8 and mile 12. The one at mile 8 was aborted because I saw the gentleman who came out of the porta-potty on the right, and decided that the one of the left was a better call. However, the one on the left had a clogged urinal, the lid was down on the toilet, and the single roll of toilet paper was not on the roll, rather it was sitting next to the toilet. I picked it up to tear off a piece to lift the lid and found the bottom side to be thickly smeared with a brown substance the consistency of play dough. I was done before I began. Luckily, mile 12 presented with a rather lovely bridge with low visibility to runners on the path and the great outdoors in general!
Socially and emotionally I had a bit of a rough go of it. When AMA is there, I always feel like I should be doing more to impress him. I get frustrated that I'm not pounding out miles that are 1:30 to 2:00 faster and feel like he's going to judge me for it. I worry that I am boring him. I worry that I'm not worth HIS time and HIS effort and HIS energy. This is my problem...not his. He really doesn't seem to mind as much as I think he should. This is good practice for me for the race. I will not be anywhere near the top of my AG, which is arguably one of the most competitive AGs, in one of the most athletic cities in the USA. I can't compete with anyone other than myself, and can't do more than my best effort. Truth be told, my best effort doesn't come from being embarrassed, ashamed or stressed out by my best performance. It comes out of trusting the work that I have put in, and knowing that the success, for the first marathon, is merely finishing it.
Poor AMA, as a testament to his love for me, froze his proverbials off the entire time. Nary a complaint was uttered, and I didn't realize how cold it was for him until after I had finished my run and we were headed for the train to get home. No wonder he wasn't talkative this ride! I on the other hand was really digging the cloudy, mid 40's weather...truly perfect for running, AND we managed to make it home before it started drizzling.
