Friday, January 2, 2009

14 miles

Today was my longest run - 14 miles. I ran through the snow, all through Spencerport, in a little over 2 hours. I wasn't sure toward the end how far I had ran (I check my distance on g-maps pedometer), so I hit two cul-de-sacs near my house. And I'm glad I did - otherwise, I wouldn't have surpassed 14 miles.

It was fairly windy this afternoon: probably the windiest day I've ran through. Since the wind made me work harder, I'm sure it was helpful in the end. While I normally drink Gatorade (Fruit Punch flavor) following a long run, this was the first time I brought it with me. I think it helped, and it lasted the whole time. I did a long cool-down around my street; I felt as if I stopped, I would just stiffen up. I'm glad I did, because although I feel pretty wiped-out, I could be feeling a lot worse.

According to a lot of the articles I've read about marathon training (which primarily comes from runnersworld.com - a great website), the longest long run should be about 20 miles (and that takes place 3-4 weeks before the race). From that point, you taper off your long runs. Race day is done on sheer will, I suppose. So, I just have 6 more miles to add in my training. And I have a few extra weeks built into my schedule, so if anything pops up, I should be okay.

What a relief!

No comments:

Post a Comment