It was long run Saturday today 
Saturday is my favorite day of the week:
- Long run.
- No class.
- Whole Foods trip.
- Hanging out with some work buddies tonight with a case of beer.
What could be better?
Time: 2:46:38
Distance: 20.83 miles
Average Pace: 8:00 per mile
After a great nights sleep, I woke up to my favorite day of the week at around 7:00. Early for most on a weekend, but not for me 
I just love the feeling of waking up when you truly get a good nights sleep. Sleeping through the whole night has been a rarity for me lately, so I felt really really fresh. Gotta love that!
After chilling out and getting some work done this morning, I was ready to head out on my long run at around 10:00. It had warmed up a little bit and the sun was shining, so it was the perfect time to head out. Since I was running 20 miles today, I went ahead and took my handheld water bottle and two Clif shots with me. I planted my water bottle at mile 3 because that is where my loop starts. It takes me three times to run the loop to get to 20 miles, so it is a perfect spot to serve as a water bottle stash point.
My legs started off feeling really really sluggish. I probably shouldn’t have ran that tempo run yesterday… Oops. Regardless, I still felt great once I got warmed up. I cruised and felt great until about mile 15, but I sort of hit a mini “wall” at around that point. I don’t think I completely hit the wall, but I experienced a very large drop in energy in a very short amount of time. My legs started to burn and I felt like a turtle. I was putting out so much energy, yet going so slow. It was weird because it came on all of a sudden. I felt fine one minute, but then I was completely dogging it the next. I immediately took a Clif shot which really helped, but I never felt like my normal self after that point. After my Clif shot, I had just enough gas in the tank to get back home. I got a second wind around mile 19, but it was a little too late for that. I was ready to get home!
I think I need to start taking my gels a little earlier BEFORE I actually need them. I think I took it a little too late today and it was [pretty much useless. It is weird because sometimes I need them and sometimes I don’t. I guess I needed one today. Probably two actually.
It felt really good to finish that run and have it behind me. I had a pretty good week of training, so it is alright that I was a little tired today. We can’t have the perfect run everyday, so I will take what I can get.
I really really wanted pancakes after my run today, but I was out of maple syrup 
I bought some later when I went grocery shopping, so I will get to have them tomorrow Today was actually the first day in a LONG time that I haven’t had pancakes after my long run. It is pretty much a tradition, but I broke the streak today.
What is your post long run tradition?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
nice run!!!!! i totally don’t understand my second winds… why and when they come. i haven’t been using bloks or gels, granted i’ve only done 1 17er an 1 16er but for those i didn’t use any. but sometimes i still get second winds…weird. i wish i could bring them on
sounds like an awesome day. get some syrup soon!!! 
nice run. i’m really terrible with fueling on a run. like today i didn’t eat anything. oops. and are you running a spring marathon? hopefully all this training is for something. you don’t want to be training so intense and risking breaking down for no reason
What marathon are you running??
I’m so bad at fueling…four marathons and I still don’t know what is best!
post-long run tradition – a HUGE breakfast
Wow, what a great run, even if you did run out of steam. I think I am going fast when I do 4.7 on the treadmill!
I have a recipe for pumpkin pancakes that are amazing – the secret is to let your batter rest to let the baking powder do its magic – you’ll get awesome fluffy pancakes every time – let me know if you make them!
http://biz319.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/theme-of-the-day-pumpkin/