See Ya Later, 2009 Mileage!

It's been a tough week of running even though I pulled back a bit on my mid-week mileage. I was up to 37.8km before today's long run and had the intention of just running 20km after last Sunday's 24km LSD. Instead, looking forward to next weekend, I decided to change things up a little bit and went longer. Next Sunday we are off to Barrie for one of Owen's baseball games on Sunday morning, and the 1hr+ drive means that I would have to get up way too early to get a really long run in prior to taking off. So, this weekend became my longest LSD training run ever at 26km.

It was tough right from the start, so I kept a slow pace and just focused on keeping the same pace throughout the entire run. That was successful, but I have to admit that with the heat and my general tiredness the last few kilometres had me wondering if I even have the ability to complete a full marathon. I barely walked up the stairs at Coxwell Avenue leading out of Taylor Creek Park at a little past the 24km mark and it was a struggle to start running again to finish off the entire 26-er.

Anyway, it was tough, I drank one litre of Gatorade over the course of the entire run, and I'm having trouble looking at anything lime green right now.

In other news, with the extra distance on the long run I have not only reached my second highest weekly mileage total ever at 63.8km, but have also surged past my 2009 mileage total (975.5km) and now sit at 979.05km for 2010! I know it's not a massive amount of mileage for many runners, but for me this is a real accomplishment. If I can maintain consistency for the rest of the year 2000km is a real possibility. That would be cool...

And lastly, I wore a white hat and the birds left me alone on the trails. Thanks goodness for that!

Update: Took my first ice bath this afternoon, well sort of. I sat in the tub while it was filling up with just cold water, and it was painful. After it had filled up there was no need for any ice since it was plenty cold in my estimation. I sat there for another fifteen minutes before getting out, and my legs were definitely frozen. I guess I can't claim my "first ice bath ever", but it was pretty close and definitely unpleasant on many levels. I just hope this helps in the recovery. I don't know how anyone can just climb straight into a bath of ice water! A couple hours on now and I must admit that my legs feel pretty good so this (cursing myself as I write this) may not be my last.