Week 10 of 13: 20 miles in 3:33

The peak of training arrived, a week later than it should've!

I initially planned to run 20 in a flat area, but couldn't seem to find a decent route or stretch of road with shoulders.  Since I was running alone, I needed to be safe.  Running on roads without shoulders is just a bad idea.  There are a lot of local parks where I can run, but they are typically 1-3 miles in total.  Doing almost 7 loops of the same route becomes painful while running.

I decided to stick with my 20 mile route from last year.  I would run 10 miles to the football stadium of the local university, and run back.  An out and back loop doesn't sound too bad, right?  Until you factor in that one loop is the equivalent of the Broad Street Run.  Which I PR'd in this year in 1:30.  All I knew was that this run wouldn't be done in 3 hours, it was also a slower paced long run.

I packed my shot bloks, camelbak, covered myself in body glide and was out the door.  I also had to go to kmart before my run to buy new earbuds, since my other pair broke.  There was no way I could run 20 miles without music.  I started out too fast (for this run).  I was at an 8:45-9 pace for the first few miles and knew I needed to slow down.  So I slowed closer to a 10 minute pace.

Throughout the run I felt like I was running at a 15 minute pace, but every time I'd look down my watch was between 10-10:15.  This was a good feeling, even though I was hurting.

I stopped 4 or 5 times during the run to stretch out my glutes, hips, and low back.  It felt like everything was knotted together.  I've had IT band issues and a herniated disc, so I was a little concerned.

I finally made it back 3:33 and tons of hills later in one piece.  I showered, took advil, and then went and got this amazing burrito.  I try to avoid this place if I'm not training, but after 20 miles this was amazingggg!

Today, I woke up and felt ok.  Until I got to work, I knew something was wrong with my back.  I called my chiropractor and made an appointment to see her after work.  They use these little buzzy pads to stimulate muscle contractions on your back.  I was ok before I got this part.  When I got up to walk to her office I could barely move (very reminiscent of when I herniated my disc).  

So I am back in rest mode icing and eating advil all day.  I just hope I can make it to this marathon in one piece.  Fingers crossed and saying prayers.

Only 3 weeks to Philly Marathon! eek