Notes
My plan today was 17 to 20 for 2 weeks out. I would do 17 if i was'nt having a good day or if i just deemed it too much to go further. I slept in a little later this morning with the intentions of running my LR solo on flat course, just so i could keep the effort based on how i was feeling for the day. I really had to try hard keeping the effort in check w/the pace after yesterday's 5k race. I usually come out hammering the day after any race because the faster pace feels so much easier. I worked on taking my gels early and often and i took my own water bottle w/me today just so i could drink and take the gels as often as i wanted. I ended up taking gel every 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 miles and it was right on. I never even felt fatigued at any point during this run and ran really strong on the 2nd half of this run. I came back to UC right past 15 miles feeling really good and my only concern w/causing me to maybe stop was that i was having a difficult time keeping the pace slow enough and fearing doing too much this close to the marathon. So i headed on up into KC with the option of coming back to get 17 or going on to get the 20. Next thing i know i hear the beep of the next mile on the Garmin and i thought to myself that was awful fast for the 16th mile, then the 17th mile went by just as quick and i thought this is just too good to pass this up and just kept on rolling up in KC on the reverse Log Cabin Loop and those last 3 miles just passed by effortlessly and i was even able to pick the effort up on the last mile from about 19.50 on. I finished feeling this was maybe the stronges 20 i have run in my previous marathon builds. I had a 23 miler that felt similar when i was almost finishing up my training for the Flying Pig Marathon in 2008(my 1st marathon) where i dropped the pace for the last 7 or 8 miles of the LR. I am glad to get my 3rd and last 20 miler for this marathon build and now i have the confidence to go and give my best effort at Columbus. The hay is in the barn as far as the volume goes. Now it's time to sharpen the sword to bring to battle on October 21 in Columbus! Splits for the run:8:31,8:30,8:18,8:08,8:17,8:16,8:18,8;12,8:11,8:12,8:13,8:08,8:05,7:59,7:56,7:59, 7:54,7:53,7:58,and 7:44.