I had such a great day on the trails yesterday. I completed 23.3 miles, for a total of 56 miles for the week. I have 12 on Sunday, and then a recovery week. I need one. I've been building for 5 weeks now. Time for a break.
For this week's long run, I used Gu packs, and Cytomax. I timed it so that I had a Gu every hour. I ate a pb & j at 2 1/2 hours, and drank about 35 ounces of Cytomax. I noticed that I was about 25 minutes faster this week at the 20 mile mark, compard to last week. I also realized towards the end of the run, that I never walked. The only time I stopped, was to eat. I only took 8 minutes to eat my sandwich, change my Cytomax bottle, drink water, take out my old and replace the new Gu packs. Not a bad pit stop.
I did fall, however. I got distracted when I bumped my iPod shuffle, and replayed the same 1 hour techno. It would have been the third time in a row. I got frustrated because I was in a good zone. Then I had to go and fall. I only scraped my left leg a little, but it left quite a bump. I'm waiting for the bruise to appear.
My overall time was 1 minute faster per mile than last Saturday's run, and I went 3.3 miles further. I think I planned it right this week. It was such a great run. I love it when things work out.
Of course I had to go soak in the pool for 10 minutes. I didn't have any neighbors looking at me this time. Maybe they were hiding from me. Anyone who sits in a 50 degree pool has to be mentally deranged.
I did 12 miles this morning. This was an even bigger struggle than last Sunday's run. I started with loops around the apt complex, but after 7 miles, I decided I needed to take a 5 minute break. I went inside, and thought I just can't go back out there to run in circles again. So I grabbed my dog, Stephanie, and ran down highway 1 to a neighborhood, and ran there. I finished up the 12, but it was a struggle. I haven't felt like that in a long time.
Thank God for recovery weeks.