I ran 30 miles and it was amazing

Jumping for Joy at the conclusion of my 30 mile run!

I am in awe of how well my 30 mile run went!  I knew I was in shape for it, and I didn't really have any doubts about my ability to finish it, but I didn't expect to feel good during it.  I'm not saying the whole thing felt like a jaunt in the park, but it almost did.  And for how far I went and how many hours I spent running, it basically did feel like a jaunt in the park.  I have felt a lot worse than that on runs that were a lot shorter!

This week : 

M : run 4.2 / 8:04 / 161 ft

T : run 4.5 / 7:20 / 85 ft

8 x 400 (90, 88, 88, 89, 87, 88, 86, 85)

W : bike 12.4 / 18.1 mph / 768 ft

R : 60 min yoga class

run 5 / 7:14 / 203 ft

3 @ goal hm pace (6:38, 6:41, 6:39)

F : rest

Sa : run 30 / 8:27 / 1299 ft

Su : 35 min yoga stretching

total run miles : 43.7

total bike miles : 12.4

Recap of long run : 

Mentally, I felt great for the entire run.  I was cheerful, I was enjoying the experience, and I never hit a wall of any kind.  I had Tailwind Nutrition in my camelbak, sipped frequently, and never got calorie depleted or thirsty.  I had brought a gel and some chews just in case, but never used them or felt like I needed them.  Ben ran the first 23.7 with me, and then handed me off to Mollie and Joe who ran to the finish with me, joined by Jim at mile 27.5.  I am grateful to all the friends who supported me in this run, it was definitely nice to have the company out there!

The weather was overcast, high 50s, and extremely humid.

The first loop of the run went really smoothly.  Ben and I cruised along up and down the hills and kept a good steady pace averaging around 8 minute miles.  The second loop sent us down a very muddy rail trail, and then back onto the road.  We continued to keep a really good pace, with uphill miles a bit slower and downhill miles a bit faster.

I started having intermittent knee pain sometime around mile 13, but it never got too bad, and it never lasted too long, so it wasn't worrying.  Sometime around mile 22 I could no longer ignore the fact that my feet were hurting, but it was just normal been-on-my-feet-for-hours pain.  Around mile 27, I got a sharper pain along the outside of my left foot, that got persistently worse.  By mile 28 it hurt a lot.  It hurt less if I bounced along on my toes instead of keeping my normal running stride, so that's what I did.  It hurt bad enough to be worrying, but there was no way I was going to quit with less than 2 miles left to my goal!  It didn't take me long to figure out the cause of the foot pain.  The roads around here are all cambered at the edge.  For almost the entire run, I was running with my left foot on the lower side of the camber.  There were 4 miles of rail trail from 13-17, and sidewalk from 28-30, but other than that, the run was entirely on cambered roads.

I posted updates to my instagram account (@wvhillrunner) throughout my run...here they are.

This one was called : Time to get this party started.  

Taken at 6 AM. 

Shortly after I started down the Creeper Trail. 

Stopped about a mile later to top off my camelbak at a water fountain and take off my shirt.

Less than 4 miles to go and still smiling!

Other photos taken along the way:

And a photo of everyone who ran with me at one time or another!  

Ben was waiting for us at my house when we finished, 

along with Mollie's husband who took the photo.  

Now, I will have to take it easy until the foot recovers.  I desperately do NOT want this to turn into a lasting injury.  My marathon is now less than 4 weeks away!  I plan to bike until the foot pain is gone.  

New personal distance record!

Twenty seven miles.  I finished over 24 hours ago and the soreness still hasn't set in.  I'm not in the clear yet though, tomorrow will be the day that any aches and pains set in.  Good thing Monday is easy miles/yoga day!

I would have liked a shakeout jog today, but I had to be at school all afternoon for our 10 year VAIS accreditation, and I had to spend most of the morning sleeping in to recover from yesterday's run since being at school meant no time for a nap today.  I did get almost 12 hours of sleep last night though, that was glorious.  If it wasn't a time-change weekend I could have had 13...

This week : 

M : 5.2 / 7:21 / 256 ft

20 min yoga for hip flexibility

T : group 6 x 800 track repeats 7.5 / 8:30 / 125 ft

3:17, 3:15, 3:16, 3:17, 3:18, 3:12

W : 30 min TRX full body

R : group 8 / 8:00 / 446 ft

F : rest

Sa : group 27 / 9:11 / 1239 ft

Su : rest

total miles : 47.7

Monday's run was supposed to be easy, but it felt good to be out there on a solo run since most of my runs are now group runs, and it was warm-ish, so I accidentally went kinda fast and pushed some hills.  Oops. At least the yoga was relaxing-ish.  I did the same video as last week.  I think I will probably do this same video for a few weeks, it seems to hit the spots I need help with.  

Tuesday was the second rainy track tuesday in a row, except this time it was raining even harder.  We went to the track and decided to do 800s with active recovery, since no one wants to stand around in the rain.  Each recovery was walk 200, jog 200.  There were 3 of us, and our 800 paces were pretty varied from each other, so we ended up spreading out pretty far and not regrouping in between.  

I did the same TRX video as last week, as last week it made me sore.  It made me sore again this week.  Looks like another good video to repeat until I don't need it anymore.  This time I tried a frog stand before my workout instead of after, since I realized it could be easier on fresh muscles.  I think I made it a whole 3 seconds this time...baby steps.  

frog stand!

Side planks are so hard...but this time I managed to get one hand in the air for part of it!

Thursday's 8 was probably more than I needed before a 27 mile run, but I decided to stick to the plan. I think it turned out to be ok. 

There were 4 of us for Saturday's long run.  Mollie was going for her first 20 miler, but I was hoping for something over 26.2.  The boys were willing to do as many as I wanted.  The boys are faster and I knew they would have trouble with the pace Mollie and I were going to run, so I told them to start at least 30 minutes behind us.  It worked out pretty well, they ended up catching us around mile 17, and then didn't have to wait too long for me.  We ran from Ben's apt in Abingdon to Mollie's house 20.5 miles away in Glade. Then Mollie was done and the rest of us kept going.  Corey was able to finish out the whole 27 miles with me.  And Mollie was able to cook our bacon burgers and fries while we were running so we could eat as soon as we were ready.  

Since I ran the first 20.5 slower than I needed to, I still had some good energy left and was able to speed up to Corey's pace for the last 6.5.  My feet were hurting from the extended period of time running, but I feel like that problem was purely the time, not the mileage.  My right knee did start to hurt pretty bad towards the end, and that was probably mileage-related.  Overall though, I would have to say that the run felt great...for 27 miles!  I never hit a wall of any kind, and I didn't get dehydrated or calorie depleted.  I did have some Tailwind endurance fuel mixed with the water in my camelbak, and ate some snacks along the way.  I put about 1.5 liters into the camelbak and drank most of it during the run.  

I tried compression gear for the first time this weekend, and am hooked!  I stumbled across a good deal for 3 pairs of compression calf sleeves, and decided to give them a try.  They just happened to arrive on Friday afternoon, which was perfect, because one calf had been cramping on and off throughout the day.  I put on the sleeves and the pain went away.  I wore them again for the long run, and hard to say if they actually helped, but they definitely didn't hurt!  Better safe than sorry I like to say.  I wore another pair for the rest of the day/evening.  

Wore these awesome calf sleeves from PRO Compression under my running tights for 27 miles.

Mollie and I, about to start running!

We clearly have different levels of cold tolerance.

We all survived! 3 of us had the longest runs of our lives!

Here's the plan for the upcoming week : 

M : jog, yoga

T : easy track tuesday

W : TRX

R : 6-8

F : off

Sa : 5k race

Su : shakeout

Longest run since November 2013!

I was actually looking forward to my 20 mile run.  My last 18 miler went so well, I didn't see any reason why the 2 extra miles would be a problem.  I did not foresee that I would be running 20 miles with a very weak inhaler, however.  I've been trying to refill my prescription for almost 3 weeks now.  I've never had trouble getting refills authorized before, so I have no idea what is going on.  The pharmacy tried three times and then asked me to try.  I left a message on the prescription refill request line, which said to allow 5-10 days.  9 days later, I asked the pharmacy to try again.  Hoping they get through this time and I get my inhaler in the next few days!  If not I guess it's time to find a new doctor...

Mentally, I felt fine throughout the whole 20 miles.  I wouldn't say I hit a "wall" at any point.  I just couldn't get enough oxygen to my legs to keep them moving at the pace I wanted.  I felt good for the first 5 or so miles, and then it started getting harder.  I stuck with the guys til about mile 10, and then I really started dragging.  Thankfully, they were also in good spirits and would slow down or come back for me whenever I got too far behind.  I would try to speed up to stay with them, but every time I tried, my breathing got too fast, so I slowed back down.  It felt like I was crawling, but thankfully I'm in good enough shape that my crawl was still mostly faster than a 9 minute/mile pace!

This week : 

M : TRX 50x 30/10

jog 4 / 7:35 / 210 ft

T : youtube yoga for runners

Wolf Pack Track Tuesday 5 miles

W : workout abs & arms 37:30

R : Wolf Pack 8 / 7:57 / 358 ft

Sa : 20.4 w/Ben & Corey / 8:25 / 1053 ft

Su : shakeout 3.1 / 8:19 / 121 ft

total miles : 40.5

I loved the warm weather on Monday!  Was glad I had a jog scheduled as well as TRX so I could get outside and enjoy the sunshine in a tank top and shorts!

Mollie designed our track workout on Tuesday.  We jogged over to the track from the brewery for our warm up.  Then we did 8 x 300 at 75 % effort, with 2 minutes rest in between.  I was surprised at how consistent I was able to stay.  We started each 300 together, and the rest started when the last person crossed the line each time (me).  My times : 63 ,62, 62, 62, 61, 62, 63, 62.  My last one would have been faster, but Ben took off like a rocket, determined to beat Corey on the last one, and laughing slowed me down... Then we did 2 x 50 at a dead sprint.  We didn't really measure out the "50," we just picked the beginning and end of the bleachers on the back straightaway because it looked approximately 50 meters long.  I did both my 50s in 9 seconds.  

Wednesday's workout, 7 rounds of 7 exercises. 2 minutes between rounds.

Thursday, another gorgeous warm day for a run.

Saturday's long run.  Before, during, after, and aftermath. 

I finally took the tags off the camelbak I bought 3 years ago and put it to use!

Here's the plan for the upcoming week : 

M :  yoga/pilates

T : Track Tuesday (hoping for longer intervals at an easier pace)

W : abs & arms

R : 8-10

F : TRX

Sa : 10-12

Su : shakeout or rest

Marathon #3, here I come.

Another awesome mileage-filled week!  I am feeling really good about the likelihood of running the Hatfield McCoy marathon in June!  The next price-hike is in April, so I'm not signing up until then.  I would like to be marathon-ready before I sign up so that there is little chance of repeating the out-of-shape fiasco that was my second marathon.

This week : 

M : 8.7 / 7:37 / 417 ft

W : 7.3 / 7:45 / 427 ft

R : group 10.5 / 8:06 / 538 ft

(5.6 with 5:00 group, 4.9 with 6:00 group)

Su : 18.1 / 7:57 / 958 ft 

(14.5 w/Ben)

total miles : 44.6

Despite my long run last Sunday, I felt good on Monday and ran some solid miles, with a good hill push in the middle.  I was due for a day off on Tuesday, which was well-timed, as I wanted to watch my school's middle school basketball game that evening.  

Wednesday is my late day at school, and it's generally hard to drag myself out for a run afterwards, especially since it's impossible to finish a long run in daylight at this time of year, but once I got out the door I felt pretty good, and incorporated several short steep hill climbs into my run.  

I had hoped to start running as soon as I got home on Thursday and get as many miles as possible, but I was dragging during the day and decided it was better to wait til Sunday for my long run.  I still wanted to get at least 10, so I decided the best plan was to run with the 5:00 group and then continue with the 6:00 group.  It worked out pretty well; we hit the parking lot right around 5:55 and Amanda was there and ready, so I was able to keep running without stopping.  She and I ran a mile loop around the neighborhood and came back through the parking lot to pick up Corey, and then the 3 of us ran together.  Amanda got the easy 5 she wanted, and I got the easy 10+ I wanted.  

Temps were in the 30s, after being close to 70 the day before...

So hard to warm up after the run. 

I took my well-deserved 2 days off after that, resting up for today's long run.  I had a 15 mile loop mapped out, but knew I would add on after the loop unless I was completely depleted.  The plan was for 3 of us to run together, but 1 had to back out.  Thankfully Ben was still able to join me, as I'm not sure I would have faced this loop alone right now.  We headed out in thick, wet, snow flurries at a nice easy pace.  Our route was gently rolling hills until about 10.5 miles in when we had the steeper hill climb up Whites Mill Rd.  We reached the top around 13 miles, and I was feeling strong, so at that point I knew I would run at least 16.  Ben headed off when I was around 14.5 miles in, as he was a mile ahead of me from starting at his home instead of mine, and he didn't need the miles I was going for.  As I continued on alone, I ticked off some more miles, and new I could make it to 18.  The last time I ran 18 was 11 months ago, and later that day I went hiking, sprained my ankle pretty badly, and stopped trying to do long runs.  I am determined not to repeat that fiasco this time!  

Facing the long climb up Whites Mill. 

It gets steeper the closer you get to the top.

10.5 miles in and facing the toughest hill climb of the day but still smiling!

The snow has turned to freezing rain but I just finished 18.1 miles and I feel GREAT!

My next race is 2 weeks from today, the 10 mile Blacksburg Classic.  I'm going to suspend my 7 mile minimum mileage rule at some point between now and then to make sure I'm rested enough to race well, but I haven't yet decided when I will suspend it.  Could be tomorrow, could be next Monday...we will see.  So far I've run this race 3 times and finished a minute slower each time, so I definitely want to reverse that trend this year!  I do plan to get my weekly mileage back down around 30 for the next two weeks, and then start bringing it back up afterwards.  After the Blacksburg Classic I hope to really focus on training for the Blue Ridge 1/2.  It is time for a course PR in this race, and to either win or be a lot closer to the first place winner than I have been over the last few years!