The Big 22 - Part One

In a variation from the published schedule, we pushed out this week for the first of two 22 mile runs.  
There's something about those extra-long runs, apart from the fact that they are blinking long obviously.  When they're finished, you start to think "yes, I can do this".  Even though this isn't my first marathon, I'm still doubting whether this time I'll be able to finish, how much has changed since the last time, am I as fit?  When the 22-milers are in the bag, you do start to feel more confident that its a possibility that you will cross that finish line!
This morning was very cold, with a ground frost.  The schedule suggested trying to run in the kit you will use on the day so you're used to it.  Great idea but there's no way I'm running in a vest when its this cold!  

We set off at a steady pace, with Sarah by my side to keep me on target.  I need a recording of Sarah asking what our speed is so I don't go off to quickly in London.  I am getting better at recognising the pace - I think!  We had bike support from Linda for the first half today and Sarah's Dad kindly provided a water stop too.  Not only did he give up his Saturday morning to sit in a car and wait for us, but he also left a bottle of water for us further on, so we had a second water stop.  What a star!
It was a slower pace than last week by about 1 minute per mile but I did speed up from mile 19 onwards.  I wanted to test whether I could increase the pace at that point.  Although I have been running faster than I thought I would during training runs, I'm still sticking to my original marathon pace plan.  If I do feel okay after 20-odd miles, I can think about increasing the pace at that point.  Last marathon, I unconsciously increased the pace for the last 3 miles anyway - I think I just wanted to get to the end!  We finished in 3hours 53minutes, which averages out at 10:36min/mile pace.  My splits for the last bit were:

The Intrepid Back Up Team

Mile 19 -10:01
Mile 20 - 9:50
Mile 21 - 9:28
Mile 22 - 9:18
I've got less aches than last week, which is down to the pace we were doing, although hopefully a bit of training impact too.  I skipped the cold bath this week but tried the recovery drink.  It was actually okay so I might give that a go again.  I did try to dish out some strawberry flan when we got home. Sarah and Sam were too good, unlike Karen and I who did scoff a slice each!  Don't think its what they had in mind when advising you to eat within 20 minutes of finishing a run but still, very nice :-)