Solo-- Phew, I'm glad you only ended up "squishy" a twisted ankle would be terrible at this point!
Tiffj-- Awsome on the 8 miler
Jodi-- I think trading CT for mid-week miles is very prudent. As long as you are getting your cardio in and your LRs are on schedule you'll probably be much better off than flirting with injury.
OK I did it! I think I peaked
I did my first 21 miler today. As Craig said, it was cold and VERY windy. I set out very cautious, thinking the whole thing was iffy. But my pace was really good. I started right from mile one doing a .08 mile walk in the middle of each split (from .48 to .54). I think that made a huge difference. Anyway, my avg pace was 9:57
Its funny how the mind works during an LR. Around mile 3 I was justifying turning this into a 16 miler (or less). Somewhere between mile 5 and 16 I was one with the universe. All was well with the world and I remembered why I do this. Starting around mile 16 I was quite aggrevated and wondered "why in the world do I do this? what's so important about this stupid marathon anyway????". By mile 18 all thoughts ceased. There was only one thought: get to the next walk interval. The pain by mile 19 was excrutiating. I can't describe it in words because I don't actually recognize it. Its not joint pain, or injury pain. Its not even muscle pain. Its just "I WANT THIS TO STOP NOW!!!! pain". When I finally broke out of the run at 21 I couldn't help but let out audible moans and groans. All the pain was in my hips and butt (glutes), my quads, hamstrings, calves, ankles, feet were all perfectly happy.
Then came the soak. Like MelR I really don't want to remember it. I cranked the heat up to 72 which brought moans from the whole family (I know you southerners probably can't understand how 72 could be uncomfortable, but by this point in the season its way too hot for normal people). I was still freezing. I cranked a space heater in my room, bringing the room up to about 85 and still was too cold. I'm now wearing flannel pjs, a sweater and a full length heavy robe and barely able to tolerate the cold.
Oh I love this sport
What in the world will I do with myself tomorrow morning???????
For reference: my first 20 miler was Aug 27 avg pace 11:06, my second 20 miler was Nov 19 average pace 10:52
Here's my splits:
Dec 2, 2005 BP 21 miles
1 9:27
2 10:13
3 10:00
4 9:44
5 10:43 (Gu)
6 10:11
7 9:55
8 9:58
9 9:00
10 9:32
11 9:56 (Gu)
12 9:02
13 9:59
14 10:11
15 9:50
16 10:22 (Gu)
17 9:57
18 9:51
19 9:48
20 10:01
21 11:12
Avg = 9:57, includes about 2 minutes of stopping for traffic
Sunny