Second 20 Miler is In The Books

Today I ran my 3rd 20 miler of this training session (Eh, 2nd, really since I had to scrap the second one due to illness). It was quite an adventure and I'm surprised I finished.

The temps have been really nice lately and I've been running strong. However, by Friday, I was pretty tired since I ran a hilly workout on Monday, an easy pace run (faster than I've run all Summer due to the heat), and a speedwork session, followed by a recovery run. All of 9 miles each. So, I was pretty tired come this 20 miler.

The temps we expected were great. 70F at 7am and 82 at 11am. Since temps were so nice and the humidity looked like it would be 74% at the most, I decided to start my run at 7am. When I woke up on Sunday, humidity was 90%! So, I knew it would be tough.

I did well during the first 10 miles, and during most of miles 11-14. Temps were nice, humidity was there but it did not feel that bad. I tried 2 of the new Crank gels I ordered and they were good. However, instead of stopping by the house closer to the end of the run, I looped at Mile 13 and made it home barely at Mile 14. I was tired. I had switched to Gatorade after Mile 10 and maybe that was a mistake but it was mostly the humidity and the 83F that we had by then. I went out and had to stop by Mile 15.50. Then at Mile 16. Then at 17. Then at 18. Then at 19. And at 19.50, I walked a bit. It was already passed 11am, so the sun which was relentless during the whole run, decided to focus only on me.

Overall, it was nice run but a very tough one. I ran faster than my last 20 miler which is good. Almost on pace which is awesome (in fact, I ran 10 miles on pace). So I see the improvement due to the weather but I still don't feel confident in running a marathon, even with my 50mpw training.

Here are splits:

Mile 1 - 13:12mm (Not bad for my legs being cold)
Mile 2 - 12:37mm (Much faster than previous long runs)
Mile 3 - 12:11mm (Pace is coming next mile, I can tell)
Mile 4 - 11:54mm (On pace!)
Mile 5 - 11:48mm (My usual negative split runs, first Crank gel)
Mile 6 - 11:44mm
Mile 7 - 11:35mm
Mile 8 - 11:36mm
Mile 9 - 11:34mm (I saw a gorgeous cat on the side of the road--dead) :-(
Mile 10 - 11:31mm (Looped by the house to refill the water bottle)
Mile 11 - 11:55mm (That's what I get for stopping; slow pace, but still on pace)
Mile 12 - 11:57mm (1 second slower than pace; that stupid sun, go away!)
Mile 13 - 11:52mm (Back on pace but I'm tired; stupid sun is still following me)
Mile 14 - 11:46mm (Went back home. My Gatorade is gone, darn heat)
Mile 15 - 11:54mm (I can feel the wheels falling off the bus, the heat is getting to me)
Mile 16 - 12:10mm (Since I stopped for a minute, going back to running from 0 made me slower)
Mile 17 - 11:57mm (I cannot believe I ran one like this in the middle of this)
Mile 18 - 12:18mm (You will not walk yet)
Mile 19 - 12:03mm (A pretty good mile considering)
Mile 20 - 13:28mm (I started walking a bit by Mile 19.50, around 0.25, so I was slow)

It was a good run overall, even though I was struggling after Mile 15. You can see it on my paces. Recommendation: continue to run at 6am until temps hit 60F.

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