12.26.2005

Long, Injury Free and on Pace

I waited until 1030 to start my long run this morning which gave me lots of leisurly time to eat breakfast and psych up for the 3.25 hours of sunny running I had planned. I chose to do three laps around Lake Virginia so that I could stop at the house every time for refueling. I really didn't feel like running but I went out anyway knowing it would be a test, coming off the draining runs of last week.
I started out all creaky. Calves were baying, ankle was making some noise and heels were pinging me too. I ignored them all and got up to pace within two miles and felt better.
The first lap was 1:01:00 so I varied the route the next two times around so to add another 15 minutes. I hit the Gu every 45 minutes or shorter, depending on how much I took and had a total of 40 ounces of Gatorade between laps and afterwards. I came in at 3:16:00, right about my target. I didn't hit a wall although I was definitely tired. The pedometer said it was 20.5 miles which worked out to a 9:34 pace, right about what I want in training.
The shin didn't hurt. The calves didn't cramp. I felt good when all was said and done.
I stretched, took a hot shower, ate a Snicker's energy bar, a banana and more Gatorade and water before hopping (well, not hopping; more like staggering) into the car and drove out to have a massage. I thought it worth a test to see how a massage felt after 20 miles. It was excellent except for the severe cramps I developed while laying on the table. Lara just turned my foot a certain way and BAM I was curling up in a nasty twitch. It happened three times before she decided to go at it a little more strategically on my feet. She found a knot that took 10 minutes to work out on each foot and then I was relaxed. I was dehydrated so kept drinking water. She said the tendons in my calf were quivering like a hard rock guitar right after the cramp passed. Most amusing for her.
I hope your holiday week keeps looking good for everybody. 2006 is almost here.

6 comments:

Jon (was) in Michigan said...

David that is indeed a sweet 20 miler. Damn nice pace and you sound like you weren't particuarly torn up either. Nice. No pain in the shins at that pace, is a good thing.

brent said...

very good run, very good run!

Joe said...

Nice report, David. A real encouragement after the "toll" you felt from last week.

And I envy your weather!!

Rae said...

WAY to go! That's an awesome pace for such a long run. You're totally ready for Miami!! We had a massage about 3-4 hours after our 21 mile run a few weeks ago and it nearly put us to sleep! That day my muscles were still feeling pretty good, it might be more painful now that I'm worn down a bit.

Michelle said...

sounds like a great run! i will be in your neck of the woods in 2 weeks! disney marathon is right around the corner, wish my trainin went as well as your seems to be!

Running Chick said...

excellent run!! that marathon is all yours!