I miss my bike

Today I drove out to Great Falls and rode my bike along the canal. I had a pass to get in the park from taking Krissy out there this past weekend. I decided to take advantage and doing something I rarely do: leave work before 6 pm and drive over to MD for a bike ride. I was on my bike by 6:15 pm and off! I headed West towards Seneca with the thought of turning around at Swain's lock and then heading the other direction for a while. However, my mind is ambitious and gets ahead of me sometimes so I set Seneca as my goal. Plus there is an aqueduct there made of sandstone that I wanted to check out. This is quite possibly the same sandstone that we just had delivered at work that I may be using in my research. I knew I would be cutting it close to dark by riding all the way to Seneca (8.5 miles). I rode hard and fast. On the way back, it was getting dark and I became worried I wouldn't make it. Thankfully as the sun sets, the light fades gradually and I made it. Last week, I left the office one night after dark (about 8:30 pm) on my bike and had to walk my bike part of the way because it was so dark that I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me. That gave me a little scare so there was no way in hell that I wanted to be caught on the towpath, between a river and a canal with trees everywhere in pitch black. Anyways, I did 17 miles in a little under 80 minutes. I was happy with that since I was riding on dirt/gravel and I don't have toe clips. I figured that I was going about 12 3/4 mph which provides a good cardio workout. With all my running this year, I have neglected my bike. Even though I was scheduled to run 5 miles today, I am glad I rode my bike. I miss it. It is a good change of pace.

This past weekend I ran my longest run yet: 20 miles. I have made it to the peak of my training! It feels good and my confidence in strong. I had a good run. We started at Seneca (mile 22.8) and ran to Fletcher's (mile 3). Ok, so it's 19.8 miles to be exact. My time was 3:39 and I am happy with that. Once I got past the first 10 miles, I walked a couple of minutes every 5 miles to simulate walking through aid stations during the marathon. I found this to help break up the run. In fact, once I got in the last 10 miles, the time seemed to pass fast and I kept questioning whether I had calculated the distance right. It just didn't feel like I could have already covered almost 20 miles. The majority of the distance I was on my own. I would rather stay with my friends in a way but running on my own is good mental prep for the marathon. At one point I caught up to a couple of older gentleman. They asked who my sponsor was and that put a smile on my face. One guy saw my Music City 1/2 marathon hat and said I must be sponsored by the Grand Ole Opry. That brought on an even bigger smile. We chatted for a while and then I went on. They are training for the Philadelphia marathon. They recommended that I check out the end of the Marine Corps course before the race. They said that when you see the finish you think you are close but you still have a long ways to go and it is very demoralizing. There is also a hill at the end. I ran into those guys again when they finished their run and found out one of them is an ultramarathoner. I wonder if I will ever try one of those.

Yesterday (Monday), I ran 4.5 miles in McLean. The weather is amazing right now, clear, low humidity and highs of 70s. Perfect.

18 miles

This week was great for running. I ran 44.5 miles this week! Monday was Labor Day and I was in Nashville so I decided to run a 10 K in Franklin. I didn't push myself too hard since I was scheduled to run 18 miles on Tuesday evening with Chris and Lisa. I finished in 59:46 which is a 9:39 min/mile pace. I was happy with that. I was even more pleased to discover that I placed 17 (out of 43) in my age divsion. Overall, I placed 642/888 and among women, I placed 191.
Tuesday morning I flew back to DC where it had rained really hard in the morning and the rain continued all day. Chris and Lisa had already sent emails suggesting we cancel our run and run the 18 miles when Chris returns from her trip. This means we would run 13 miles this weekend and then 18 miles the next. I was agreeable but once I got into the week, I realized I really wanted to get the 18 miles done this week. Plus I had great runs on Tuesday and Wednesday so it made sense for this week to be a high mileage week. Tuesday I ran in the gym on the treadmill and did almost 8 miles (probably 7.7?). It became a bit torturous...well, not painful, but slow and repetitive. That is the longest I have ran on the treadmill. It was good mentally, though. The majority of the run I was alone, but eventually my gym buddy came up. Thankfully...because I was considering stopping after mile 5. I don't think he has any clue that there are days when he shows up just at the right time.
At this point in time, I was thinking I was doing 13 miles this weekend instead of the 18 so that meant I only had to run a couple of miles on Wednesday. I went to the gym to do weights and started on the bike (easy) for about 30 minutes while i talked to an old friend on the phone. Then I did some stretching and ab work. I decided that it was such a pretty day that I would do my run outside. I planned to do 2 miles but it felt so good that I ended up doing 4.5 miles. Thus, the thought crossed my mind that I should do 18 miles this weekend instead of 13. I didn't want to inconvenience Chris in any way but I knew she would understand and I made sure that Lisa is planning on doing the 18 with her. Friday morning I ran 8 miles through McLean before work since I had plans to go to Jazz in the Garden on Friday night (great time, by the way!). This brings me to today....I met Lisa at 7:30 and ran my 18 miles this morning (18.1 to be exact). She stuck to the 13 but mentally I needed to do 18. It was a little more difficult than 17. I realized that I needed a 4th gel or I should start drinking my gatorade earlier. I only used 3 gels on my 17 mile run and that seemed about right. So I figured that 3 would be fine for 18 as well...it's only a mile more. No, if I take a gel every 45 minutes, then I need another one at 3 hours and really I should probably take it at 2 hours, 45 minutes. It's all a learning process. I finished 18.1 miles in 3 hours and 16 minutes. It felt great. I had some pain in my right leg...on the outside, towards the back up near my hip and butt. It wasn't very painful but annoying. It came and went, though. I gotta get news shoes this week!! I have close to or maybe over 450 miles on these shoes.
I thought about something on this run that I wanted to include in my blog. When I ran 17 miles a couple of weeks ago, I ran into G'town. I remember coming around a bend and seeing the University steeple. It was such a relief. I knew I was almost there. I saw it again that week when I did my mid-week long run. For some reason, I thought about that on this run and the fact that I didn't have any landmark to let me know I was almost there. Then I remembered I do have marks, such as when the trail merges and runs along the CC trail and Chain Bridge, just a mile NW of the boathouse.
Gotta go to Maureen's now for college football, but first I am going to work to run a test. Really I want to take a nap, but that will have to wait. Which means that I will have to get a coffee or something....caffeine.
Till next time.