29 mile father's day weekend!

Saturday I did a neighborhood run. I zig zagged through streets that I typically don't run on for 7 miles and saw some nice homes. My legs felt kind of heavy and I took it easy averaging about 8:20 pace. It was a nice morning for a run.

My plan was to do a 3 hour run on Sunday morning in preparation for my 30 miler in two weeks. I woke up to some hard gusty wind and almost called it a day until Andi suggested calling her sister in Canyon Country to see how the weather was 45 minutes away. She said that the weather was nice so we loaded up and got there around 1:00. I left right away with some accelerade, a powerbar gel, my cell phone and a credit card, and took off west on the Paseo (a bike and running path that winds around the Santa Clarita area). I noticed right away that it was hotter than I was used to. I don't know the last time that I ran in the afternoon.

I stopped 2 miles out at a CVS and bought some vasaline and a small water. I sipped on that water for the next 6 miles and then took my gel finishing the water. There was very little shade, unless I was going under a bridge or overpass, until I found another branch of the trail called the south fork that had large trees lining the path for about a mile and a half. There was also a little breeze that helped cool me down. I turned around at just over 11 miles. I had to stop again at mile 15 as I was running out of accelerade. I stopped at a Shell Station and asked if I could fill up my bottle with water at the fountain drinks. She said all they had was hot water but I could also use their ice, so that's what I did. It was getting hotter as I continued and stopped one final time at mile 19 which was back at CVS. I was starving and bought a gatorade and some powerbars. I ate one powerbar and drank half my Gatorade before I got to the front of the line. I finished the run of 22 miles in 2 hours 52 mintues. I stopped the watch at each stop I made.

When I got back to Andi's sister's house I asked what the temp was. She said it read 80 degrees in her car that afternoon. It felt hotter than that. I was able to take a dip in their community pool after my run (always feels great).

The effort today was harder than two weeks ago mostly due to the heat. By the end of the run I was dumping diluted accelerade on my head to try and cool down. I also was not properly hydrated, fueled, or rested before the run. I learned alot that will prepare me for my 30 miler in two weeks.

I averaged 7:50 per mile over the 22 miles and most of the time when I looked at my Garmin I was easily (cardiovascularly) maintaining 7:30 pace, but was hitting 7:50-8:10 for most of the second half. Here are some splits I remember.
10 miles in 76 minutes
13.1 miles in 1:40
20 miles in 2:35

It will be nice to run with some people in two weeks. As of today I have 18 runners who have RSVPed to run some portion with me and at least one, maybe three, people biking.