Not as far as I’d hoped
Today is exactly six weeks to the marathon. I ran 18 miles two weeks ago and my plan was to run 20 miles today, then 20-22 in two weeks and then 16-20 in four weeks, then taper for two weeks leading up to the marathon. Unfortunately, I only ran about 16 today. I just simply didn’t have the juice to go any further. I ran from here, down Bowery, across the Brooklyn Bridge, down Court Street, left on Union Street to Prospect Park, then did 1 1/2 loops of the park and headed back. I made it about half-way across the Bridge on my way back. Then I walked home.
The weather was great, I had a good breakfast about 2 1/2 hours before I went out, I had a gel at 50 minutes and 1:40 and carried Accelerade on my fuel belt. I felt great for the first 10-12 miles, then really fell apart quickly. I’m not sure what it was – maybe I still hadn’t fully recovered from the race last weekend; maybe I ate too early and should have eaten a bit more before I started; maybe I hadn’t recovered from my ride yesterday; maybe I went out too hard (I don’t think so); maybe I didn’t carb-load enough this week. I’m not sure, but whatever it was, I need to put it behind me and get a good, long run in two weeks from now. I was planning on swimming tomorrow morning, but I might take the day off to recover.
I tried weighing myself before and after the run to see how much weight I would lose. Before my run, the scale said exactly 168 lbs. When I got back I was 161.5. That’s a loss of 6.5 pounds. During my run, I drank 12 oz. of Accelerade and stopped at three water fountains for a few more ounces. Then, while I was walking home, I bought and drank a 32 oz. bottle of Gatorade. 6.5 pounds is 3.8% of my body weight and that doesn’t take the 46 or so ounces of fluid I replaced while out there. Maybe dehydration is to blame for my performance today? My long run in weeks will be part of a NYRR marathon tune-up, so there will be water and Gatorade on the course. The same obviously goes for the marathon.
Run
Total time: 2 hours
Distance: ~16 miles
Average heart rate: 162