19 Miles - This Was A Tough One

This week the long run that was scheduled was a 20 miler. This will be my second 20 mile long run and I was looking forward to getting it out of the way. I was hoping not to do alone, so I was glad to see that the NY Flyers were planning a "Last 10 miles of the NYC Marathon" run. I decided to use that for part of the run and do the rest on my own.

I was hoping to run about 7 miles beforehand, but that was not to be. I was tired from the night before (my friend's birthday) and decided to sleep in and do more mileage after the Flyer run. I know how much harder it is to tack on mileage after an organized run but I had no other choice. I planned out a run beforehand that would get me to the start of the Flyer run only a few minutes before they took off. I started at Engineer's Gate and ran the 2.5 miles to the base of the Queensboro Bridge to meet up with my fellow teammates. We then followed the last 10 miles of the marathon course to Tavern on the Green. Then JT and I continued another 3 miles back to Engineer's Gate and then we did one loop of the Reservoir together and I continued on for another one and a half loops.

At the end of the day, I ran 19 miles and it was the hardest of the long runs that I've done so far. That's not to say that this run was extremely difficult (although it was tough), but rather it talks to how well I felt on my previous long runs, even the 20 miler from two weeks ago. I really felt the soreness and discomfort at the completion at the run and felt pretty wiped out afterwards, which I haven't felt in the past. While I was a little discouraged, I realized that not every long run is going to feel great and that I should be happy that I got another very long run out of the way. Training is hard work and sometimes you are going to have a rough day. Try and figure out what made this run different from the others and learn from this experience for next time.

The weather was a bit chilly, but great to run in. The temperature was one of the positive parts of the run. However, there were some things that probably contributed to the difficulty of the run for me. I went out last night for my friend's birthday and got to bed a lot later than I would have hoped. Usually, I make myself get to bed early the night before and make sure that I am as well rested as possible. Also, the course is a very hard surface to run on and probably took a large toll on my legs and ankles. I am used to running on the Reservoir surface one or twice a week to conserve my legs so running on the street and sidewalk for almost 15 miles must have been very jarring for my body. By the end of the run, my legs were very sore and I was shuffling quite a bit, just wanting the run to end. Rather than gut out another mile for no reason, I decided to stop the run at 19. In addition, when I am not doing a long run as part of a race (with mile markers) it is very hard to gauge what my pace is. I was hoping to go out at a relaxing pace but I definitely picked it up during the "last 10 mile" portion of the run and went out quicker than I should have. When you are going just by feel, it could get dangerous and I just need to remind myself not to do this during the marathon. I have been very good on the last few long runs keeping my pace in check and staying calm/consistent and I need to get back to that next time. Unfortunately, I let today's run get away from me a little bit. I know not to do that again. By the time we passed Tavern on the Green and I had another 7.5 miles to go, I knew that things were going to get very tough.

Well, two 20 milers are out of the way and only one more to go. To all the NYC marathoners, good luck with your tapers.