Saturday was the first of 5 20-milers that I’ll be doing to prep for Boston. Why so many? Well, practice makes perfect and (generally) I handle 20 miles pretty well in terms of recovery, so I can do a lot of them without compromising my other runs.
So the weather was perfect on Saturday. Seriously, it felt like Spring. Night and day compared to a week ago. I did 2 hilly loops totaling 11 miles before heading for some flat, paved trail for the remaining 9 miles. My breathing felt off the entire time. I slowed down, I sped up, and yet it was still off. I started getting hot and I guess I was sweating more than I thought. I tried drinking more but it was too late, I was already dehydrated. Boo. The last 3 miles were HARD. I wanted to stop and quit, especially at mile 19. 19 miles? 20 miles? What’s the difference? I thought about Boston and, knowing I would never quit at mile 25, I trudged onward. 2 hours and 55 minutes later (8:45 average pace), I was done.
I quickly got into my car (all I wanted to do was sit down) and chugged my chocolate milk. Then the aching and throbbing began. My legs were hurting big time. I transitioned into sitting too quickly. I usually walk around, drink my chocolate milk, and stretch a bit before driving home. Thank god it’s a short drive because I was in pain. Some stretching, a nice hot shower, lots of food, and a long walk with Hawk and my legs felt completely fine.
Boston Week 4 Recap
MON: 6 miles easy
TUE: 8 miles tempo with 4 miles @ 7:50 pace (7:44, 7:48, 7:54, 7:57). During the last interval there was a creepy raccoon wandering around and I had to stop and wait for it to move away. Ewwww.
WED: barre My body was screaming for a rest day so I slept in instead.
THU: 5 miles with 10 hill repeats. I did a mix of short and long hill repeats.
FRI: yoga. I left the class feeling wonderful!
SAT: 20 miles
SUN: 5 miles super easy
44 miles for the week. I was aiming for 47 but oh well, I needed rest. This week is a drop back week….all the way to 40 miles. Living on the edge!
Ever get that achy, throbbing feeling in your legs? The last time I got it was after the Pocono Marathon in May 2010 (it was so memorable because it was so painful).