A Marathon for Training!!

There was no spectators, no medal at the end and no official finish line! But I did have pretty nice weather, yes a little muggy but still beautiful, and great running company for what turned out to be my longest training run to date – 26miles!! Ok so yes I am 0.2mi short of the marathon distance, but it’s close enough right?!

Since I took last week off to get my foot issues sorted out, I’ve logged a few miles and things have felt better. I got a second pair of what have been my go to trail shoes this training cycle, the La Sportiva Fireblades! I should do a review on these sometime, but for now let’s just say I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these shoes!! The new pair arrived Thursday and were ready for a long run Saturday and felt AWESOME!

I met Coach at 7am and we were going to take it nice and easy. My goal for long runs are making sure I get my fueling right and finding my trot! This is the nice pace where I can just keep going and going and just basically keep a very steady pace! We started off by walking briskly to warm and up then just got into a decent rhythm. We just kept moving, eating, talking and trotting! The temps were in the 70s and humidity was a high for this time of the year..granted so were the temps! So hydration, fueling and electrolytes were key! I set my watch to remind me at each mile and every 45mins. This ensured that at minimum I was drinking each mile and eating and taking salt every 45mins. We finished one loop at Shawnee Mission Mountain bike trails which is 4.5mi and stopped for a potty break and then met up with Rachael and her friend for a second loop. All the conversation just made this loop go by pretty quick! Before I knew it, Rachael and her friend were done with their one loop and we were headed out for our third. Its so great to have a Coach that will take a good chunk of her Saturday to come run with me! We just chat about all things running, food and life in general and time just kinda flies by! Three loops done and Coleen headed out to go join the St. Pattys Parade. My schedule originally called for 22miles this weekend, but I told Coach that if I felt good I’d go for 24 instead! I had about 2 more loops to go to get to 22. I decided I was going to add some red and mix in some extra orange to see if I could shoot for 26 instead!

I stopped for a potty break, refilled my pack ate half a Lara Lemon bar as I needed a little extra energy and then met Beck as she was getting ready to start her long run. We ran chatting and enjoying the trails! It was starting to warm up a little, so I wanted to make sure I was getting enough water as I was starting to get pretty warm. I finished up the miles by diverting into the red trail and did an out and back to and finished up on the orange loop and viola…I just ran a marathon distance as a training run!!  IT FELT AWESOME!!

Finished up the weekend with a 4.5mi loop to end the weekend with 30.5miles!! Legs are a tired, but not like I was expecting it to be! The long run this weekend was a major confidence booster! I had taken a fall from some concrete stairs the day before and bruised my tail bone pretty bad, but my body held up for 26miles this weekend despite that and whether that was more mental than physical it doesn’t matter, it makes me happy! I’ve come a long way since I first started trail running…hell I just ran a 26miles on a trail I love just for training!!!

Let’s see what this next week brings as I go into what will be my longest training run this cycle before starting taper!! Bring It On!!