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Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Missed Long Run

I've read and heard about a thousand times....everyone missed a long run during marathon training.  It is going to happen, and you are not supposed to dwell on the fact that you missed it.

I had high hopes on Monday to do a 1 mile warm-up, 13 mile half marathon race, and then an additional 7 miles after the race.  I completed the 1 mile warm-up and the race, for a total of 14, but couldn't finish the remaining 7 miles.  I considered this a big fail.

You have to understand - I like schedules.  If the schedule says to run 21 miles, I will run 21 miles.  If it says do 5, I will run 5.  I know how important 20+ mile runs are in marathon training, and missing one was not something I wanted to do. 

Originally, I thought that I would do a 21 mile run tonight (Thursday), but after talking with another runner decided that probably wasn't the best option.  My training calls for 12 on Sunday, and he thought that running 14 Monday, 21 Thursday and then 12 Sunday would not give my legs adequate rest.  The compromise?  Try 15 instead.

The most I've ever run on a weekday night is 9 miles.  Tonight I set out early to get in 8 before my running group met and thought I could do 8 more with them.  The first 8 felt amazing.  I was listening to my music which I haven't done in a long time while running and it was a great form of distraction.  I ended up running these miles too fast, though.  For my second 8 I was with one of my friends.  It was nice to talk to him for 8 miles on the path.  Our pace was around a 9:15 average and felt good.  I did, however, get extremely tired at the end.  I know I didn't eat enough today to fuel for that many miles.  Live and learn, right?

My legs are super tired right now.  Running 16 miles and running for over 2 hours on a weekday is hard.  I'm hoping that I'm able to get out of bed tomorrow morning!

What is the farthest you've ever run on a weekday? 

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