2/07/09 - 20 miles

Today was the first of three 20 milers that my schedule calls for over the next several weeks. I can still remember these long runs from my last marathon training so lets just say I was not too excited. Fortunately, today's run was not nearly as bad as I remembered so either I'm in better shape, my nutrition is better, or my mind created a dark gloomy picture that wasn't quite reality.

The hardest thing is trying to find a time to spend 3 continuous hours running what with all my kids activities on Saturday. Chase had a stake EFY activity that started at 7:30 am and finished at 9:00 pm. Jordan's scout troop was responsible for collecting all the food for the annual "Scouting For Food" drive. They met at 9:45 am and collected and/or solicited food from every home in our ward boundary for the local food banks. Trevor had a basketball game which started at 9 am and Tanner's team (the one I coach) had a game at 1 pm. I didn't want to wait until after 2 pm to start running so I decided to get up early and run at the gym. I arrived at the gym when it opened at 6 am and spent the next 3 hours running. Fortunately there was a couple movies on television which kept my attention because the treadmill gets old real quick.

I ate half of a chewy granola bar at 2 miles and the other half at 4 miles. I ate 2 shot bloks at mile ten. I drank water after the granola bar and the shot bloks. I then drank Gatorade (a swallow or two) every couple miles after the shot bloks. I felt pretty good afterwards but I definitely could tell that I had run 20 miles. It wasn't until after lunch time when I started to get some energy back.

I didn't push the pace on this run but I did try to keep it honest and make sure that it meant something. I ran the first 5 miles at a 9:10 pace and then ran the next 10 miles at an 8:48 pace. The final 5 miles were run at an 8:34 pace. I ran the 20 miles in 2:58:06 which is an 8:54 pace. My instinct is to try and go faster on my next 20 miler but everything I read tells me to conserve on these long runs and save the faster times for the actual race. I've been looking for another half-marathon to run before Salt Lake, maybe the weekend of April 4th. Lake Havasu has a half that actually runs across the London Bridge so maybe that will work.

Total mileage for the week: 54 miles