Wednesday, October 23, 2013

22 Monumental miles on the VA Creeper Trail

Time has flown by since I first mentioned I was running marathon #2.
And my lack of blogging shows how far behind I am on my original goal of weekly marathon recaps. oopsie!

Almost 2 weeks ago we traveled with my Knoxville Endurance family to the beautiful Virginia Creeper trail to get in our last 20+ mile training run before Indy Monumental (Nov 2nd). We started our run in Abingdon and ran to Damascus. It was so beautiful. The weather was perfect and the company was great (even if I was running my 22 miles solo). I didn't run with my phone/camera but really wish I had though I'd probably have gone way slower than I should have if I'd stopped to take pictures. Seriously my words can't even describe the beauty of this run. It's an old rail bed, so we ran mostly on tightly packed pea gravel and wooden bridges. Overall the run went well for me.

We got a run plan Friday night (we all stayed in a cabin w/our coach) and went over how our run would go. This was to be our real last chance to get things right for race day as far as fueling/water, etc. So, that said I wanted it to go so so well. Here are my actual splits:

9:59/ 9:55/ 10:05/ 10:13/ 9:55/ 10:14
10:05/ 10:01/ 9:59/ 9:57/ 9:52/ 10:15
9:50/ 9:55/ 10:21
The first 15 miles (above) were to be at easy pace so around a 10mm according to my coach (though I want to be 9:45, but marathon pacing and all.... blah). Anyway, the last 7 miles were a pick up which would be at marathon pace (9:55-) or faster. They are as follows:

9:28/ 9:28/ 9:36/ 9:38/ 9:38/ 9:39

Like I said, overall this was a good run for me. Pre run breakfast was good, fueling/water during the run was good. I took a gel every 4 miles and did Enduralytes every other gel. I chose to not carry my Cambelbak this time as I think I've decided to leave it home for the marathon, so I opted for a small handheld and refilled at the water stops coach laid out for us. This worked well. 
Overall time - 3:38:43 for an overall pace of 9:56 which is within my marathon goal range.


The weekend was more than just the last long run but a great time spent with awesome friends! Stay tuned for how I've been coping with the taper. The countdown to Indy is on... T minus 9 days. 

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you're ready!! Can't believe how far you've come. So excited for you!

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