I Needed That!

Wow.
I am a little shocked right now...in a good way. More than a little, actually.
Remember yesterday I mentioned how I trust my amazing, awesome Coach 1000%? Yes...yes I do.

Let's hit rewind for a minute and revisit some craptasticness that was Long Run Saturday that turned into Train Wreck Saturday.

It was pretty hot out Saturday and with a 3 hour run on the schedule and nutrition/hydration being one of the key elements of this run, I wanted to be sure I had enough and not have to stop a bunch of times. I pulled out my old CamelBak Avila and filled up the 70oz bladder with some yummy Powerbar Perform and stashed about 10 gels into the pocket. I wanted to do a point-to-point run so I had hubbs drop me off 6 miles into the Maine Marathon Course.

A couple miles into the run, first attempt at fluids and ICK. My Perform tasted like a condom (not that I eat or drink things out of a condom). It was the most disgusting, gross, vile taste...so I took another sip just to be sure. SPAT that out real quick. GROSS. And hot. Dang...

so my plan was to hit up a store or garden hose and rinse it out and refill with water or something. Saw a nice fella out watering his garden by Prez Bush's house and being the shy gal I am, I walked on up and asked to use his hose! We rinsed and refilled it and on my way...sip, gag. NO WAY...this was NOT going to work.

Ok, just keep running. Now at this point I am getting a little nervous and doing the math...hot, hilly running with no liquids. Not ideal conditions to gel without fluids (hello gut bloat!) and I forgot my salt tabs. I figure I'll just stop at the little grocery store in Cape P and see if they can hook me up with some H2O because of course, I did not bring cash with me, DOH!

So I just keep running. Run run run and pop! the chest strap on my CamelBak pops and there we go. Dump out all fluids and figure out a way to run with this thing...another 13 miles.
More stuff went wrong; almost hit by a car on a narrow, winding country road and jumped into the shoulder to avoid being smooshed but jumped into picker bushes.
Got bit many, many times through my tri shorts and in the butt by giant deer flies/black flies (you should see the two GIANT welts there still!!) Anyway...about 12 miles into this mess of a run, I called it a day. Just too many things driving me batty and so I called hubbs to pick me up.

Saturday afternoon I chatted with Coach and I was a little bratty, insisting that the run be repeated on Sunday. But Momma Bear gave her little cub a gentle swat across the head and knocked a little sense into me.

Today was the run that was supposed to be done on Saturday. I was actually really excited to tackle this run again and went into this with a super positive mind set (this always helps).

The run started out at cool and drizzle--my favorite running weather for sure! Strong steady running and I knew my body was going to respond well today. About an hour into the run, the skies cleared and the sun came out...and it started to warm up. That's ok. There was a nice ocean breeze, I was running one of my favorite coastal bike routes and I was in a really, really good mental place. Strong. Focused. Determined. And super pumped!

The miles were just ticking away and they were all solid 8:30s. I was at a comfortable pace and I kept saying to myself "Wow, I could run this all.day.long" My nutrition was spot on and to plan and things were just going so well!!

I hit 13.1 miles at 1:48, just 4 miles slower than my half mary PR (holy cow! on a training run??) and this just got me even more stoked to have a solid run. The new goal became 21 miles in 3 hours.

Two stops to refill fluids, one potty stop at mile 16. I did lose about a 1/2 mile on the Garmin after the first fluid stop (forgot to hit start, another DOH!) but it all went perfectly awesome.

And great planning on my part. Mile 20 was a 1/4 mile long steep freaking hill. At this point, HR was out the window and I wanted to finish strong!! That last mile was an 8:06.

All in all, I ran 20.78 miles (and then some) in 2:56

one happy girl!!

yes
yes
yes

I sooo needed this kind of run and while I am a bit sore right now, Im getting my legs some loving in their NormaTec boots.

I'm coming for you Cedar Point.
And I am ready.
Really, really ready.

I cannot wait.