FFTFL premiere

FFTFL premiere

Friday, September 4, 2015

Left You Hanging!

16 miles
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:
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?

3 comments:

  1. Impressive mileage! Definitely would not do 26 before the marathon. Here's my two cents. Have you ever done a regimented timed "run/walk" long run? (i.e. entire distance sticking to a specific ratio - there are apps for that, some GPS watches do it as well) you may be surprised with the results. Recently went running with a friend. I am a slave to run/walk (except for the last mile or two of an actual race :), won't run with a partner unless they agree ahead of time to stick with my run/walk ratio. My friend was amazed how much easier the run seemed to her. She's been coming off an injury so had been doing what you do, runs as much as she can then walks when she has to. When she went with me and was forced to take walk breaks well before she needed to, she was able to do more miles than she had been doing, as well as when we stopped felt she could have continued. Granted I haven't converted her, it's a hard concept to accept that you will be walking just minutes into a race, but she will run with me regularly now. Again, just my two cents. You are doing amazing however you do it, and BTW wish I looked as good as you and Charlie after 16.

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    1. Gail, I have the Gymboss timer and I was doing a 2:1 run/walk, but the incessant beeping and impending beeping kind of drove me crazy. I believe in Galloway's method but I am enjoying my runs more now going by feel rather than always waiting for the beep. I do believe the walks are helping me HUGELY, both mentally and physically! I remember a time when I could run 11 miles straight... those were the days!! :)

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