Long Run Sunday

With only 5 weeks to go until the 2008 Shamrock Marathon, I figured it was about time I ran a 20 miler in preparation for the 26.2 mile race. I must admit my long run record in the marathon build up has been very poor – apart from a 20k race, half marathon and 25k race, I haven’t logged more than 11 miles in training. Today’s planned 20 miler would be the longest run since the Richmond Marathon in November 2007. Hopefully it would go okay, but I kind of convinced myself I’d be happy with an 18 miler if things didn’t go to plan.

I woke early and headed to First Landing State Park where I typically run all my long runs. It was actually quite chilly as daylight broke and the sun started to rise and was glad I packed hat and gloves and an extra couple of “just in case” layers. The wind was also very blustery – no surprise really with a severe weather warning in place for wind gusts of up to 50mph! I hoped the trail would provide protection from the elements but first I had 4 miles to run on Great Neck Road. This would leave most of the main Cape Henry Trail to run along with a section of Atlantic Avenue and the Virginia Beach boardwalk before heading back to my starting point.

Armed with two long sleeve layers, woolly hat and gloves, I set off into the wind trying to be as positive as possible about the 20 miles ahead of me. I didn’t feel great in the first mile and it was probably due to yesterday’s cross country race in spikes on the grass. The 8:25 mile was no surprise and felt tougher than the time suggests. Mile 2 was better and I told myself I just needed a few miles to “get into it”. 7:45 was a fair but quicker and it was a relief to turn around and enjoy the moderate tailwind as I headed back to the trail. Mile 3 and 4 were 7:36 and 7:27 respectively, and at last I was getting into a groove. I passed my car and tossed the woolly hat which was now more of an annoyance than a help. 16 miles to go 🙂

I won’t pretend the run was easy, or that enjoyable if truth be told. The trail was very quiet and there weren’t the usual friendly faces to help pass the time. All I could do was plod along, remain positive and remind myself why I was doing this. My mile splits stayed fairly consistent (between 7:10 and 7:20), which wasn’t taxing on my lungs, but was quite taxing on my legs. I guessed they were just tired from yesterday’s race, but then I remembered I’d probably be running over 50 miles this week – my biggest week for almost a year.

I stopped during mile 10 for a quick drink and a toilet stop, but was soon on my way again to record an 8:03 mile. By now I was on blustery Atlantic Avenue and decided to run as far as the Hilton Hotel before making a turn and heading back to the car. The stretch along the boardwalk was quite refreshing and put me in a better frame of mind for the return journey. “Only” 8 miles to go!

At mile 15 I stopped again for a drink and an Espresso Hammer Gel. Hopefully the caffeine would kick in soon! I glanced down at my Garmin GPS and read an average pace of 7:32 per mile. For some reason I love round numbers and decided to head for home and aim for an average 7 minutes 30 seconds per mile average. When I’m tired, I find it’s much better to have a target to shoot for than to just concentrate on how bad or tired you’re feeling.

I pressed on but made a point of looking every half mile or so at my Garmin and with a couple of miles to go my average pace was down to 7:31. Now I was confident of a strong finish and looking forward to the end of the run. I made it back to the car in a shade over 2 hours 30 minutes – exactly 7:30 per mile! I walked around for a while as a cool down and spent about 10 minutes stretching to limit post run soreness. Driving back home I reflected on a solid run, but with only 35 days left before the marathon, I realize I still have a lot of work to do to avoid suffering through the 26.2 miles.