Swim, Bike, and Run your Age!
If Not Now, When?

Just Keep Running

I have a standard routine for marathon runs. First, I taper for a few weeks prior to the run. After completing the run in the morning, I take a long nap in the afternoon. Then, I skip running for a few days (pronounced "weeks") to recover and eat.

Of course, doing silly things for the B-Fit B-Day challenges are far from normal and require a departure from "routine." So does training for a 50-mile ultra-marathon. This weekend, I accomplished a couple personal records related to training.

First, I completed my longest run ever. On Saturday evening, I ran 29 miles in 4 hours 55 minutes for an average pace of just over 10 minutes per mile. That exceeds any other run by about three miles, unless we count the warm ups prior to a marathon. And while 10 minutes per mile is far from blazing fast, I'm pretty amazed I managed to keep that pace for nearly 30 miles. If pit stop time (about 10 minutes) is discounted, I go just under 10 minute pace.

Now, a 29 mile run Saturday evening would certainly call for a relaxing Sunday. But a relaxing Sunday would render pointless the previous day's run. So, late Sunday morning I was out the door, again, for a comparatively short run targeting about 3:30 - 4 hours. Just under three-and-a-half hours later, I returned home with another 19.6 miles under my belt. By the way, that's 19.6 painful, slightly slower, painful miles. My pace for Sunday was about 10:24/mile, with only five minutes for pit stops.

All totaled, that's 48.6 miles in 8 hours, 20 minutes. Since I turn 40 in December, that's 8.6 miles of extra credit. Then again, I utilized nearly all of a 24 hour period to finish, so it's a wash.

In two weeks, I'll be putting 40 miles down in a single run as I complete the Fox Cities full and half marathons back to back. I will start at about 4:30 a.m. running the half-marathon course, plus 0.7 miles, backwards. The goal is to arrive at the finish line as close to the 7 a.m. start as possible. I will then officially run the full marathon. With the extra 0.7 miles, that will be 40 miles, good preparation for the 50 mile race coming up in October.

Here is a picture my wife took at the end of Sunday's run. It proves two things. First, I was tired. Second, my son is terrible at staging pictures. (Note: I made the "50 mile" note before mapping the actual route)