Notes: The run today went great. This was the first time I actually felt like I could have turned around and done it all over again, I wasn’t tired at the end and the legs still had a lot left in them. I attribute it to a somewhat easy week at the gym and my legs being fairly fresh. Once again it was really hot, which is good for me to train in. I brought along some new food to try and it worked fine (donut holes). Hydration went well until about 1.5 miles from the end I ran out of water (whoops). But it wasn’t really that big of a deal. The pacing was conservative and I made sure to restrict myself, I think this ultimately will be the key during the race. Also the elevation gain average was only slightly less than what I should expect on the course. 16.77 miles / 3:10 / 11:22/mi

So the weekend run went a little better than expected. This time I decided to go solo so I could pace myself the entire way and not be concerned with trying to keep up. It was a hot day so it definitely tested my hydration. Achilles didn’t really seem much of an issue at all. The nutrition was a little bit of a challenge. I started off with Gu and halfway through had a PBJ sandwich, then I switch to Clif shot blocks. But after hour three it was really hard to have much of an appetite. I think the heat was a big reason why. As far as hydration went, I ended up drinking a lot. Drained the backpack halfway through and then did a refill and almost finished it again towards the end and also made sure to pop a salt tab every 45min. The last 4-5 miles were pretty tough but like most of my long runs I didn’t feel totally recovered from the week of training. My supposition is that when race time comes and I have fresh legs I should be able to make it (hopefully) around 30 miles or so before hitting the first major wall. Around mile 16 I popped a couple Ibuprofen which helped with some soreness I had. I am fairly mentally prepared at this point for the hours of suck that will follow this so I am not too worried. At this point there isn’t too much more I’ll be able to squeeze out of my training and I am fine with that. What was interesting about this run is that even near the end my slow shuffle was still about 10 – 10:30/mile but I was just taking more frequent breaks. Anyways the final tally – 21.45 miles – 4:04 – 11:25/mile . Climbing clocked in at a bit over 2000ft which is a little less per mile than the race course (160′ /mile vs 95′/mile), I’ll try and get in more elevation gain on next week’s run.

Notes: Holy shit that workout sucked. Muscle ups got really hard near the end and l-sits while you are breathing hard are near impossible.