Yesterday, I had my longest training run that I'll do for this training block. 30 miles is long, no matter how you slice it. Also, it was part of a back-to-back-to-back block of long runs where I did 10 miles on Friday, 30 on Saturday and 11.5ish on Sunday. There were many firsts this week, including running 70+ miles for the week and ending up on a leaderboard for a local running club on Strava (Princeton Running Company). I'm definitely looking forward to cutting back for a recovery week next week.
As hard as the 30 miler was, I was overall very happy with how it went. Last June, I went into a self-curated 50K, injured, but I had trained too long to abandon it, so I went ahead with it and did it very slowly. It was also great that the weather conditions were humid and hot for this weekend's long run because it's closer to how the weather might be on race day (vs. rainy and 45F from last weekend). Being able to get through the miles intact and still feeling like I could go longer was very encouraging. Also, as per usual, my last mile was my fastest mile, which means I could've pushed harder. I think I finally have my nutrition and hydration dialed in. For this run I consumed:
- 4 x 16 oz. bottles of Tailwind (1.3 scoops per bottle)
- 3 Spring Energy Awesome Sauce gels
- 1 Clif chocolate chip Z bar
- 2 SaltStick salt tablets (miles 16 and 20)
- 1 x 16 oz. bottle of water
One of my Strava crew left a comment how my nutrition sounded like an alternate runner's version of the 12 days of Christmas. That made me smile.
The first 12 miles were the same "loop" as what we did last week. The goal again was to try to maximize the amount of climbing and descending and go at a mostly aerobic easy speed. I really loved the first 12 miles- the undulating route on Pretty Brook is so much fun and it's manageable early in the day with very little traffic. For some reason, those first 12 miles flew by. When we got back to CP, we did a potty break and re-filled bottles, fueled and packed what we would need for the next 13ish miles. By then, it was starting to heat up. We started the run at 5AM at 61F and by the end of the run it was 82F (with 99% humidity).
Foggy, humid start at 5AM
Unfortunately, my training partner miscalculated the amount of water we would need for the next leg of our run and ran out of water at about mile 24. By then, we had already done 4 hill repeats up Washington. We made our loops larger than last week and much of that meant running in the blazing sun. Many times during our run yesterday, I kept repeating in my head, "I am powered by the sun." I think it actually helped me overcome the discomfort. When we finally got back to CP, Aaron was completely depleted and his head was pounding. He told me to go ahead, but not before offering me the most delicious watermelon on the face on the planet, or at least that's how it tasted at that moment. I ate, refilled with Tailwind, changed into my Torins (from the Nike Invincibles that I was trying out) and set off on the final 4.5 miles. Scooted over to Mountain Lakes in search of shade and just tried to keep my mind off the fact that my feet were barking with each step. Positive things to note: my legs and core were still actually ok. I'm still not sure if it was a good decision to try out the Invincibles on such a long run, but today, my feet and body feel ok, so maybe it was the right choice. My right toes did feel scrunched and by time we got back to the car at mile 25.5, my feet felt like they were swollen and there was a bit of rubbing on my outer ankle, so I made the decision to change into the Altras.
I'm overall very happy with the way the run went. I was able to keep my heart rate in between MAF and Zone 2, even with the heat and humidity. I think that while I was running, my cadence was nice and high around 175 spm. I power hiked the hills strongly. Overall, my pace was about 2 and a half minutes faster per mile as compared to a similar distance run about a year ago. In the process, I picked up a couple of Local Legend crowns on Strava, a marathon PR and a 30K PR.
I'm super impressed with Aaron for toughing out the last 4.5 miles at the CP loop. He was determined to finish even if it meant walking most of those last miles in the sun. His grit is truly inspiring. It was also encouraging to learn that without stopping his watch and run/walk for the last 5 miles, he was still at a pace well below what we would need to beat the cut-offs at the race.
Of course, we had one more double-digit run to wrap up the miles for the week. Sunday morning was a 6AM start. It was another morning where we could feel like it was going to be a scorcher. It did end up getting up to 93F later that afternoon. Both of us moved very slowly to start, but eventually, we did end up speeding up a bit to almost our usual comfortable cruising pace, so that was encouraging. We just wanted to get to double digits and both decided that getting an iced oat latte and walking back to where Aaron had parked his car was more important than getting more miles. In the end we ran 11.5 miles and walked an additional mile with warming up and cooling down.
Nature taking over the boardwalk at Mountain Lakes
Someone being funny. Sometime between Saturday and Sunday morning, this tiger got a party hat.
With 5 weeks left to go before race day, I'm feeling good. Just need to keep up with the core, strength and balance work, add in the mobility work and keep maintaining with foam rolling and icing. Pretty high maintenance, but it'll all be worth it if I can get to the start line healthy.
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