23.1 Mile Long Run - Done! Begin the Taper!

Today I ran my 22 miler - which became a 23 miler! Conditions for the run couldn't have been better. At 5:30 am, when I stepped outside to begin, the temperature was in the upper 50's - low 60's with a breeze. Even after the sun came up, the temperature felt cool.

Even though the sky was clear, the Garmin seemed to take forever to lock onto satellites. Once obtained, I headed out. My plan was to do my Lockwood "loop" 3 times - stopping after the first 2 to refill my water and Clif Shots. My hope was to keep my pace as close to 11:30 min/mi as I could by running 1 mile and walking 30 seconds. This was a bit ambitions for my long run but I felt good and the weather was good. The first mile came in at about 11:30, and my heart rate was in the right zone averaging 141 bpm. I continued on in the cool darkness with mile 2 in 11:52 and mile 3 in 11:40 min. My AHR was 146 and 149. Listening to my heartrate - I couldn't afford to push the pace or I would run out of gas - so I settled into this pace just under 12 min/mi and hoped I could finish close to 12 min/mi in the end. My heart rate stayed under 150 bpm for the first 10 miles of the run.

At mile 6.4, for no apparent reason, my Garmin lost satellite - not just for a min or so, but until I passed what I thought was the 8 mile mark or so. I lost almost 2 miles - so my mileage and pace were going to be off for the rest of the run. I reverted to taking my walking breaks at every 12 min mark (run 11:30 min walk 30 sec) and would try to keep my pace moving by feel.

I completed my 2nd Lockwood loop at 3:05 - about 15.2 miles into my run. After refilling the water bottles, grabbing my sunglasses and grabbing a couple more Clif Shots, I headed back out into the bright, cool sunshine.

At about mile 17, I felt amazing for about a mile. Why does that happen and why is it so short lived? It is an odd thing. I got a brief burst of energy, my pace picked up a bit and felt comfortable. Unfortunately, it only lasted about a mile. After the burst, my feet started to ache a bit and the distance and time began to weigh on me a bit. Still, I felt ok and hit mile 20 at just over 4 hours into the run. Judging from where I was, I knew I had another 45 min or so left - so I pressed on. I was also about a half a mile away from my turnaround point which pointed me home.

For the last two miles, I changed my strategy and ran 5 minutes and walked 1 minute for the rest of the time - focusing on trying to keep my pace up. I focused hard on trying to keep my form relaxed, shoulders back and relaxed, back straight, legs relaxed - but I was pretty tired. About a quarter mile from the house, I could feel my left calf begin to cramp - thank goodness I was almost done.

I finished in front of my house with a strong push and walked for a few minutes before heading into the house. DONE!!!

Since my Garmin was thrown off for losing the satellite coverage, I used Mapmyrun to figure out how far I really ran. I ran a total of 23.1 miles! The final talley:

23.1 miles
4:42:47 / 12:15 min/mile (faster than previous 19 and 20 milers)
AHR 149, MHR 166
2400 calories burned (according to Buckeyeoutdoors)
6 Clif Shots, 58 oz of water
Ice bath afterwards
Beginning temp: 59 deg F
Ending tem: 67 deg F

I am now officially tapering for San Antonio!!