My first 20 miler

Having learnt about the importance of hydration and nutrition from previous long runs, I made sure I drank plenty of water throughout the whole day on Friday, and ate a healthy serve of pasta (mushroom/pumpkin risotto for lunch and spag carbonara for dinner).  I went to bed early wanting to get a good night's sleep to help with the cold I am suffering from at present, but Lachlan, my 2 year old son, woke up twice that night.  To make matters worse, I had a nightmare about the run itself whereby I was at the 31k mark and the road just kept going and going, with the 32k mark out of sight no matter how far I ran.  No doubt I will suffer similar anxiety when the actual race day arrives.  In all, I slept a total of 4.5hrs, and with my nose blocked and a bad cold brewing, it was hardly the ideal preparation for one's first attempt at a 20 miler.  Still I pressed on.

Having prepared everything the night before, I woke up at 6am and ate a banana, a glass full of chia seed gel, and about 300ml of powerade drink.  I then stretched gently for 15 minutes before heading out the door.  It was just before 7 when I arrived at the Brighton beach.  After strapping on the hydration pack, the HR monitor and putting a credit card, emergency 10 dollar note and my driver's licence into the zipped pocket of my shorts, I started my run at precisely 7:07am.  Knowing the purpose is to run for 3 hours regardless of the distance, I made sure my pace was appropriate (about 30-40s slower than my actual target race pace), which is about 5"20-5"30.  My goal for the day was to run the whole way and try to maintain a consistent pace throughout.  Having done a 21k run the weekend before on a hilly course (the tan), and then followed it up with a 10k tempo run on the Thursday at the same course, I knew my legs probably aren't as fresh as they ought to be.  Throw in the cold/sinus congestion and the lack of proper sleep, I was expecting the worst, but it didn't end up as bad a I'd anticipated.  Running through the first 10k at 5"20k pace was a real struggle - something I didn't expect at the start of a run and given the slow pace.  It was a real dogfight as I had no rhythm and HR was sitting around 85-90% even though I was running so slowly.  However, as the run went on, I started to get into a better rhythm and the HR started to drop towards the 78-80% level.

The run itself can be divided into two halves.  The first half (Brighton -> Port Melbourne -> Brighton loop) is relatively flat while the second half (Brighton -> Black Rock -> Brighton loop) is relatively hilly with three fairly decent climbs.  I had deliberately chosen to run the hilly section last when my legs would be most tired simply to simulate the race course, which has the climb up Lightwood Avenue at the 37k mark.  After the Port Melbourne loop (18k), I was tired but relaxed.  I took my first and only food for the run - a chia seed gel made from 2 teaspoon full of chia seed and water.  I knew my resolve would be tested as I hit the first of three major climbs at 19k.

I coped with the first climb ok, only just.  As I struggled up the second climb at the 21k mark, I did a quick check of the time - 1h54.  Not quick by any means, but fairly respectable for a long training run for me.  By the third climb at the 24k mark, I was still breathing ok, but legs were starting to feel heavy.  They felt even heavier as I commenced the descend towards the turnaround point even though it wasn't too steep.  So after turning around, I was faced with another climb straight away.  At this point, I was just focused on putting one feet in front of another when climbing, and trying to slow down the pace to save the legs for the flat sections.  After scaling the second climb, I knew I was one long, gradual climb from finishing my first 20 miler as the run to the finish was all downhill from there. 

With about 5k to go, the mental mind games that was previously simmering was now raging.  My legs, though still running, were severely fatigued and screaming for mercy.  Part of my mind was telling me I'd done enough for the day and I should preserve my legs for another day.  My heart was telling me to stop being a whimp and just finish it.  I had previously run a km up this hill at around 4"50, so it's not a killer hill by any means.  However, after 28.5k on the road, it felt like I was scaling Mt Everest.  I focused hard on maintaining my running form, but with every muscle in my legs hurting, and my lower back starting to ache, the legs were only partially responding to the command center in my head to keep the running form.  I had to keep reminding myself of how many 5k I had run previously, and this was just another 5k run to the finish line.  The closer I edged towards the crest of the last hill, the worse the mind game had become.  I was now looking at the Garmin so regularly that the distance had hardly increased more than 200m.  It was at that point when I decided to stop looking at it.  The pace was irrelevant, and I knew exactly how much distance was left to traverse based on where I was.  Once I crested the last climb, the feeling of relief was overwhelming, but my legs reminded me of the battle ahead as every step I took down that last descend caused me just as much pain - even if they required much less effort.  At the 31.7k mark, Garmin lost its signal.  How eery, given the nightmare I had the previous night.  Anyway, I got there. 

I had the biggest smile on my face over that last 500m even though I was in a world of pain.  I had accomplished something that seemed so distant only a few months back.  Best part of all, I was well on track for a sub-4h marathon run in a training run, and I didn't get injured.  I had a very sore left knee (which had started clicking with every step I took over the last km) and the ball on my right foot almost felt bruised (which has happened every time I ran with the Kayanos).  Attached below are my splits...



When I tried to do my stretch after the run, I was like a giraffe on a gymnastic beam.  Both my legs had seized up the moment I stopped running, which I knew based on the 28k run I did.  This was another reason why I forced myself to run the whole way.  As I drove home, it was so painful to shift gears that I basically jumped from 1st to 3rd, and stayed there for the 15min drive home.  Thank God for the enormous gearing ratio in my car :)  Anyway, over the course of the next two days, I suffered three bouts of sugar crash where my body temperature would crash, and I'd be scrambling for the nearest sugar-packed items within sight to consume.  I also took a freezing cold shower for my legs only right after the run, and iced it for 2hrs three nights running.  I also ended up getting a bacterial infection, but was up and running 2 days after my 20 miler - which is a great sign as it meant I had some adequate lead-up training.  To make triple sure that I am as fully prepared as possible for race day, I am planning on doing another 2 runs of 32k and 2 runs of 34k, with the first of the 34k coming up in 3 weeks time.