T-27 - The Last Long Lard

20.3 Miles (375.8 Total) - 2011 - 252.9 miles
203 Minutes (57 Hours 44 Minutes)

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Afternoon all


Well I heaped a ton of pressure on myself with another last minute decision to try a 20 miler.  I really have not exactly prepared myself for these but I appear to have got away with it to a greater or lesser extent!


I had originally planned to do my last 20 miler tomorrow morning early but an opportunity came up in the diary so I headed out at 11am this morning instead.  There were a few reasons I did it:

1. Not having to get up at 4.45am tomorrow
2. The sun was out and I do loads of running in near darkness and cold.  Given that it could be bloody hot / warm on the day I thought that some sunny practice would be a good idea
3. Running at the right time in the day.  The marathon starts at 9.45 and most of my runs have focused earlier, getting the body clock right is very important!

Well the first thing to go wrong was having too much kit, the Helly skin I was wearing was bit much for the conditions so I overheated a touch.  As a result I think I was pretty dehydrated for the second half of the run which really didn't help!

I wanted to do 2hrs 10mins for the first 13 miles (10 minute miles) and then see how I felt, and try to pick the pace up for the last 7 miles.  The good news is that at the 13 mile mark I was 20 seconds ahead of schedule (!), hows that for pace?  The bad news is that things started to unravel around mile 16 and the last 4 miles were brutal!  I had a new gel to try that is loaded with sugar and caffeine, it was a difficult to swallow and I took it a bit late so a lesson learned for the big day.

The good news is though that I ran through the wall and by the time I was back in Chiswick I think I was coming out the other side.  The time was not what I wanted but beggars can't be choosers and there is no doubt that when it comes to running I am a beggar!

Now I am planning rest with physio on Thursday, then the Kingston 16 mile run on Sunday.  Then joy of joys I have to taper my mileage so the last 2 weeks before the marathon I will run less!  Marvelous!

Anyway I am at 250 miles for my 2011 challenge, just the 750 miles to go!


Have a great evening


LB
XXX