My friendly foe: The 18 miler

I do love the long run.  Even the bad ones.  They make me feel so accomplished.  They produce the greatest naps.  They make me feel not as guilty for reaching for that 5th cookie or 3rd bowl of cereal. They allow me time to really sort out my feelings about any and everything.  They put all my fancy running gear to really good use.

But 18 miler, I just don't know about you.  16 is good.  20 is good.  But that 18 miler gets me every time.  I even did all the right things.  I hydrated with water and Gatorade like a fiend the day before.  I made sure to eat healthy (re: no bar food) the day before.  I ran between 8:20-8:30 per mile (okay, still a little fast, but I felt like I was trotting).  The weather was absolutely perfect--about 50 degrees.  I was comfortable in capris and a short sleeved shirt.

I went out and back on the Greenway which is 13.5 miles and then I ran out 2.25 miles and back to complete the 18 miler.  I really only paused twice which was good preparation for race day.  I just never really got any little tinges of euphoria like I normally do on long runs.  It wasn't super terrible, but I was happy when it was over.

I did run 16 miles on Saturday and did this 18 miler on Wednesday so it wasn't a full week's rest.  I'm hoping this was the main cause for my lead legs feeling.  I was in a good place mentally and excited about going out to do my long run.  I felt the energy and the mojo, but my legs just didn't feel cooperative. 

I took an ice bath afterwards and then wore compression socks for about 4 hours.  I'm not sure how much good it did, but I figure it couldn't hurt.  I ran a hilly (yay!) 3 miles yesterday that was pretty decent.  I ran after a crazy sweaty day at work so I was a little more body-weary that usual.  Tomorrow I will be tackling some mile repeats (blech!) in the morning so I am hoping that my body decides to cooperate.

I have 20 miles to tackle on Valentine's Day.  Seems appropriate to do good things for my heart.  Hopefully my post long run nap won't interfere with my dinner plans.  Good thing Adam won't love me any less if I decide we are going to have frozen pizza for Valentine's dinner!