Breakthrough

On today's 20-miler I had a breakthrough moment. Well, maybe not a "moment" per se - maybe series of moments, but all at once psychological, physical, emotional and motivating. I changed as a runner.

Yes, that sounds dramatic. (I mean, if the shoe fits...) And yes, we've (we being us runners) all had good runs, even good 20-milers, before. But this run was different than that. It's true that many outside forces (the nice cool fall weather, the finally dry trails) helped eliminate sometimes challenging variables. Still - something about today's run was different. For whatever reason, I felt like I belonged out there more than ever before.

I could tell you about the pace I ran, the things I thought, the people I passed, and the new flavor of Gu chomps I...chomped. But instead, I'll just keep this post brief and leave it at that.

I had my most inspiring, encouraging, and refreshing run ever during a 20-miler - the first run of that length for this training cycle, falling at the end of my first 50-mile week of this cycle.

I am pleased. Sub-4 hours, here I come.

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Training Summary:

Week 12 of 19-week training cycle

1-35 (long run: 12 miler - two weeks after Grandma's Marathon)
2-28 (long run: 14 miler)
3-45 (long run: 16 miler)
4-39 ((long run: 18 miler)
5-28 (12 miler - bailed due to heat)
6-45 (long run: 18 miler)
7-7 (no comment)
8-27 (long run: 15 miler)
9-41 (long run: 17 miler)
10-46 (long run: 18 miler)
11-41 (half marathon PR!)
12-50 (long run: 20 miler)

Looking back at this, I see my coach seems to have an obsession with the 18-mile distance. Now, in her defense, a lot of this schedule has been shifted around/altered due to my hamstring struggles and logistical challenges from moving. We've really just played it by ear and adapted. The overall consistency, though, going back to my training pre-Grandma's, is definitely paying off.

My guess is that I have 4 weeks of solid training left, followed by a 3-week taper. I only get my training schedule from Wendy on a week to week basis, so I will have to just wait and see!