Four 4-mile runs
Course plotted
Two 10 oz bottles of Powerade
Honey Stinger Waffles
Gatorade Chews
Frozen Powerade and Powerbar Wafers in the car.
Before:
After:
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| the best beverage after a long run, besides iced coffee! |
Done. We ran 16 miles in 4:02:37. I ran when I felt I could. I walked when I needed to. Charlie estimates we walked 50%. I feel like I ran more than that. Envisioning the miles as four separate runs helped tremendously. The last two miles were hard, but in that last mile I still had several short run intervals. I would just call out a mailbox or telephone pole or stop sign and get myself to it. I didn't feel like death warmed over at the end. I could have even walked another mile. It would have been slow, but I could have dragged my ass the distance. Our total moving time was about one minute less than 4 hours, which means we managed the 15 minute pace we need to keep for the 18 miler on the 20th. I am worried about the hilly course of Central Park, but I will just try my best to do it.
It's hard to believe that after running 16 miles, there will still be 10 more miles to go on marathon day. That's going to take more physical and mental work. I decided we're running the Inaugural Suffolk County Half Marathon on my 44th birthday, which is a week before the Central Park run. Scheduling these races were a good idea to make me get the miles done. After the 18, I want to do the requisite 20 miler and a 23 miler. Galloway's plan calls for a 26 miler 3 weeks before the big day. I am not sure that's something I want to do. It will take a huge toll on my body and I also want to leave a couple miles to stretch for in NYC. What do you think?
