There’s nothing like an early morning 20+ mile run to remind you that you’re training for a marathon .. all the normal post-long-run symptoms were there when I got back home, the sweaty clothes, sore muscles, chaffing in ‘all the normal places’, dehydration .. its just good to be back. Despite all the symptoms, I did consider it to be a good run for this stage of training because my entire body is sore, not just my legs like they normally are. I was about 12 miles in when I felt my core muscles starting to ache, which got worse later on when I tried to put down some water and my second gel (around mile 17). My stomach muscles were so sore by that time I just about yacked up the gel and the water, but I was able to hold it down. By the time I got home, it was so sore that I couldn’t even get anything down, but eventually it went away. I didn’t really feel that I ran it any differently than any other week, but maybe it shows the training is working.

So the total distance I ran was about 20.3 miles after I mapped it out. I headed out before sunrise when it was still pretty cold. I found that I actually started getting cold much to early in the run (around mile 6) because I didn’t manage my ‘overheating’ early enough. That was about the time the sun was coming up and it started to warm up slowly. I went through the normal changing of hats, gloves, etc during the run, but regardless of what i did, everything was just soaked by the time I got home. I really started to overheat towards the end of the run but figured it wasn’t worth taking anything off because i’d only have to carry it around anyway.

With every week’s long run, the question is always … did I hit my long run pace? Not quite, but I did better than I’ve done any other week. I finished today in 2 hours and 55 minutes, so I was 5 minutes short of my 9 min/mile pace. I’ll take it, but I know I still have work to do on the pace.

Thanks to everyone who commented or sent me emails on how I can deal with my insomnia, I slept a little better last night, but I’m hopeful I can get through a couple nights of a ‘little better’ so I can get back to normal.

Tomorrow looks like a run in the rain .. they’re calling for a decent soaking, but its going to be warmer than its been (looking like the upper 30’s overnight), so i’m hoping my hill workout isn’t too bad with the cold and the rain …. I’m actually planning to do some REAL hills tomorrow like I did in preparation for the Baltimore marathon, so I’ll really be worn out if I remember that .. I have 10 miles scheduled to wrap up the week, which will take me over 60 miles for the week for the first time this season, not too bad for the second to the last week of January .. (who would have thought?)