Please help me decide when to do my 20!

[disynut]

Hello all---I am running the WDW marathon next month and have been training with Hal Higdon's beginner's plan. I've stuck to the plan pretty rigidly, just with choosing which weekend day to run my long run. However, this coming weekend is my 20 and where I would get up and run it on Saturday morning, my kids have a swim meet out of town both Saturday and Sunday. So those days are out. I can either run it Friday evening or Monday. I would really rather run it Friday evening, but am a little worried it's too far out from the marathon. After my 20 I taper so I guess I'm just a little worried about those few extra days. Opinions?

Thanks for any info!

Jen

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

I think which ever day is most convenient for you will be fine. The 20 miles is as much a mental thing as anything else--you find out you have what it takes to leave footprints for that many miles...

Good luck with your run!! Oh, where in KY are you? I am right across the river in Cincinnati.

 

[cewait]

I agree that you will be fine with either day. The extra day or two will not make any difference in your training effort physiologically. Though here are a couple things to consider. With a busy weekend coming with lots of last minute details are you really going to be able to prioritize and block out a 4-5 hour slot? The other issue is driving the next morning and then sitting at a swim meet for hours. Not the better way to recover from a ground breaking run.

Obviously you know your schedule and tendencies better than anyone. Just get out and focus on the run knowing you will soon be tapering into the race.

 

[Kira G.]

The only other thing I would add is to be careful if you end up doing your 20-miler at a time you are not accustomed to running. I usually do my long runs first thing in the morning, and recently did a 16-miler late morning-early afternoon (essentially during lunch time). I did not adequately prepare by adjusting my eating schedule, which is one of the reasons I ran out of gas during my run. I think it would have gone better if I'd taken that into account adequately.

Congratulations on getting this far in your training, and good luck with hitting that milestone! I'll be running a 20-miler next weekend as well!