Monday, August 3, 2015:
Of course I do need to stop for a nature break now and then, and the last 6 miles are the toughest, but I felt good at the end of this walk/run. It was a perfect 20-mile training run - even the weather was perfect, 55 and calm at the start, 72 and breezy at the finish, mostly sunny.
The course consisted of five different 4-mile routes, each starting and ending at our house, making nature breaks and water refills easy. I ran very little of it - just 15 or 20 seconds at the beginning and end of each route, and slightly more than that in the last quarter mile. The pace was consistent - every mile was slightly faster than 15 minutes. I stopped my watch during nature breaks, and can't do that in a real race, but still finished the 20 miles in just five hours elapsed time, 6:00 am to 11:00 am.
I took five Clif Shot gels along the way, several salt tablets, and 16 ounces of water every four miles except the first four.
Whining: My right hamstring hurt a little after mile 3, a feeling which reminded me of a time in 2004 when a part of that hamstring actually did break during the Twin Cities Marathon, requiring me to walk to the finish. Today it got better as I went along, though, and by the end I didn't feel it at all. I think if I actually DO the stretches that I know how to do, every day for the next three weeks, that hamstring will be fine in the walking marathon.
2-mile splits: 26:23, 28:51, 28:57, 29:20, 29:28, 27:36, 28:50, 28:48, 29:59, 28:47, 4:46:57, pace 14:21
Saturday, August 1:
Today we policed one mile of the new Zephyr trail, walking at a modest pace and picking up trash along the way. We found very little trash! We went a little beyond our scheduled turnaround, probably walking 2.5 miles total. Easy.
Thursday, July 30:
Four miles, no problems. Pace 14:01. Two-mile splits: 28:10, 27:53, 56:02
Monday, July 27:
Twelve miles. No problems. Two-mile splits: 27:08, 29:27, 29:36, 31:07, 29:19, 29:32, total 2:56:10, pace 14:41.
Saturday, July 25:
Best four miles. Two-mile splits: 27:34, 27:58, total 55:33, pace 13:53, sub-14! I walked with Charley on the Zephyr Trail this morning, and we pushed it. Thanks Charley.
Wednesday, July 22:
Better than last week. This is DEX day, the day after I take my dexamethasone. Last week on DEX day I did a longish run (walk) of 14 miles and experienced a lot of pep, a known DEX feature, but tired muscles. Today I had the pep but muscles were fine, despite the 16-miler two days ago. Go figger.
No problems. Time 56:27, distance 4.00 miles, pace 14:07. Not bad at all, since I'm shooting for sub-14. Might get there!
What was different?
- Shorter run of course, but last week even the first two miles were slower than they should have been.
- I did start out from the house with a short run this time - maybe that stretches ligaments & things.
- I took my DEX later in the evening last night - maybe that makes some kind of a difference.
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