030809 - Run

Today was a breakthrough for me.  Max put a 3 hour run on my plan and I have been thinking about it all week.  I have never run for more than 2 hours and with the marathon just on the horizon, I was feeling a bit uncertain.  I have been thinking about that marathon like I thought about Timberman!  What will it be like?  How will my body respond?  What should my nutrition be?  How fast will I be able to go?  

Today cleared a lot of this up!  I left at around 4:00 this afternoon and the weather was perfect.  I was planning to get out early this morning, but due to the time change and an alarm clock malfunction, I needed to push it to the afternoon.  I headed out from home with 9 gels, 4 eight once bottles of water and a new pair of cushy socks!  I had instructions from Max to consume 1 gel with 4-6 oz of water every 20 minutes.  I followed those instructions precisely and mixed up the Gu flavors to keep from getting flavor fatigue.  I ate a combo of vanilla bean, chocolate, and tri-berry.  They were not tasty but they did the trick.  I headed out to rock creek park and ran 10.7 miles to the Masonic Temple.  I couldn't believe I was able to run that far in 90 minutes and the last mile or so was all up hill!  My HR on the first half stayed in the low 150s with occasional peaks around 160.  I made the turn feeling really good and headed home at a little quicker pace.  I got home in 2:57.40.  My average HR was 154 and my max HR was 169.  My time could have been a bit quicker because I stopped along the way to fill up a water bottle at a fountain and I hit a few red lights along the way.   I felt that my nutrition was perfect for the run and it was a good learning experience.  I would never have thought to eat that often on my own and this is just another perfect example of why working with Max is so helpful.  I was really happy with my pace and the way I felt.  I am very confident now for the marathon and I really enjoyed this part of the journey to Ironman CDA!