Saturday, September 06, 2008

Let the taper begin

I have one more run for tomorrow, a 5 miler recovery run after today's big long run. This can't come soon enough and I really can't believe I've made it through 15 weeks of this. Damn, that was beyond tough on my time and my body.

Today was the last of the 20+ milers and the schedule called for 20 miles. I decided to do at least 22 miles. I wanted to test out my gels and of course being on my feet for almost three hours.

The splits speak for themselves. I warmed up but then kept most of my splits below 8 minute miles. I ate a small bag of sports beans before the run, drank a bottle of Gatorade during the run, and took two gels, one at the 1:05 mark and the next about an hour later. On marathon day i'll be taking a fair bit more fuel (5 gels, anti cramping Shot Bloks and of course water and Gatorade). I really think fuelling for me now is the major worry.

I wanted to do a negative split today and also try to run the last 5 miles or so at a fastish pace. Really happy with the heart rate -- it was around 150 bpm or lower for the first 15 miles and only around mile 19 when I started to run a little harder it drifted up to 160. Weather was optimal for a long run -- not too much sun and relatively cool for early September.

So really gratifying to run the last bit at 7:37ish pace. Not quite Boston pace but I know I'm more than capable of doing 7:15s through my last 30K race. It's the last 12K that I hope this taper will help to prep me for.

2 comments:

Sonia said...

And the tape begins!! Congrats on putting all that mileage on your body.

Great last long run. You're definitely ready!

Marky Mark said...

I'm looking forward to seeing how you do almost as much as my own run!