Going back a couple months, my plan was to do 20 miles 3x in August, followed by spending September building up to 26, with the last long run being late in the month, and then starting the taper. After not being able to do the 3rd 20 miler in August, I started a little bit of speedwork with tempo and threshold runs, on the idea that if I'm not extending the distance, I can get quality runs in by trying to improve performance.
However, as time as passed, the idea of jumping from 20 to 26 miles, with no long runs in September, started to bug me a bit. So after last Wednesdays somewhat failed 6 miles, I decided that this weekend would be the perfect time for a long run of 23 miles. I had a good long time since my last real long run, mid-September was just about perfect timing wise, and I saw very little activity the week prior due to travelling for work. The timing also gives me a chance for one last century bike ride over the next week or two, which would be real nice to get in. The other major reason I wanted to log this run was because I wanted to see what hydration and fuel consumption would be like in new england fall weather. With the other runs having been in August, I was sure I was going through more water during those runs than I would in a marathon in mid-October - but I wanted to get an idea of whether my fuel belt with 48 oz of fluids would be enough, a little short, or a lot short.
Previously, all my my long runs were done at a target HR of 150, but after doing some speedwork and getting a better idea of what I could sustain for distance, I started to wonder whether I should continue with 150 for this run, or maybe bump up a little bit. The other week when I shot for 155-160 and maintained for 8 miles I felt really strong. Not strong enough to tack on an additional 15 miles worth, but stronger than I thought I'd be. In the end I decided to shoot for 150-155 on this run - basically allowing myself a few more bpm than I was before. So not only was I going to be at a higher intensity, but I'd be tacking on a few miles. That would be enough added workload for this run.
I did my typical long run first loop around the reservoir, and found I was nearly 4 miles in before I thought about having anything to drink. So immediately the good news was that water consumption would be markedly less, but I was slightly concerned that maybe I was starting off behind the eight ball - if I was at mile 4 and the idea of having water came to me, perhaps I was already dehydrated - and playing catchup with hydration on the run is very difficult. So I downed a bit more than I normally would, and make sure during the next walk break (I'm still doing walk breaks every mile) I'd finish the 8 oz bottle. Hopefully that'd get me back on track.
Oddly enough, it took a few miles for my HR to feel like it settled in a bit. It might have just taken that long to warm up (it was about 46F when I started out, afterall) - but my HR was bouncing around quite a bit, which made finding a pace a little difficult, especially because the first couple miles have some mild uphills.
But once I got settled in, the rest of the first half or so went pretty smoothly. By this time, I was consuming about 2 oz per mile, or about 2 oz per 8-9 minutes. Probably a little less than I should be and am able to absorb, but I felt like it was sufficient enough. And that rate allowed me to keep running without stopping at home to refill.
Things continued to progress pretty smoothly, but by about mile 16-17, my hips did start to tighten up a bit. It was mostly my upper quad flexors whenever I'd extend my foot forward, but it was very mild, so I didn't worry about it. As I got to about the same point, I had to start thinking of how to modify my route back to add an additional three miles. I knew that if I got to my normal stopping point and was short, the temptation to just call it a day might be too great. So I had to find a way to add just about the right number of miles before reaching the finish line.
Around mile 18, I decided that instead of taking walk breaks for miles 19, 20 and 21, I'd just run straight through them. I wanted to see how much left I'd have in the tank without the walk breaks, and considering that I was already fatigued, I thought maybe it'd be a little bit of a threshold workout as well. Once I hit mile 21, I took a walk break before the next mile. By this time I knew mile 23 was going to be a slow, recovery pace mile - as I was stiffening up enough to know that if I didn't do any sort of recovery pace, I'd be real stiff and sore for a few days.
In the end, it was a workout that took a bit more out of me than I thought. Even as I write this the next day, I'm still a little sore, and this is the first workout that has warranted two ice baths - one immediately after the workout (as always) and one today. It is clearly going to be a few days before I feel recovered enough to run again - at this point I'm not sure whether my mid-week run will be Wednesday or Thursday.
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