Week 23: Twelve and a half miles

20:40 sec run/walk ratio
3:44:38 hours
12.81 miles
17.5 minutes/mile

Well, okay, it looks like somehow I didn't get the GPS turned on, and the distance was off, because I did four full loops plus one and a half lower loops, which is more like 13.5 miles than 12.5. My Stepz app (which for some reason seems to have the most accurate mileage, even though it doesn't use the GPS) says I did 13.7 miles today. Which would make my pace 16.4 minutes per mile, not 17.5. Hmph. Didn't think I was that slow. (My Health app says I did 14.94 miles today. Heh. It's always high, the running app is low, and Stepz is just about right.)

I was scheduled to do a 26-mile run today, but plans have changed. After such nice weather last week, we were back to forecasts of 90 F all weekend long, and between dreading trying to finish an eight-hour run in 90 degree weather, and not being able to properly finish my last two long runs, I thought about it and decided that I was not fully confident of being able to finish my training and complete a full marathon. So I switched my registration from the full marathon to the half marathon, and re-did my schedule based on that. Now my schedule is 12.5 miles today, 5 miles next weekend, then 14 miles, then 6, and then the half marathon! Since I've already trained up to over 20 miles, it should be relatively easy to do a half, and today's run was in fact no problem. I am thinking of resuming marathon training after Long Beach, when the weather's cooler, and doing Honolulu in December. We'll see. I won't make any decisions until after Long Beach.

So for today, I got up early—I'd set my alarm for 5 AM, but woke up at 4:40 and went ahead and got up—and was ready to hit the road by 5:40 AM. But I hadn't taken into consideration that the days are getting shorter, and it was still full dark at 5:40 AM. So I hung around until the sky started to lighten, which was around 6 AM, and hit the road, figuring it would be light enough to run by the time I got to the park, which it was. It was a pleasant 60 F when I got started.

I brought three GUs with me and used them all, which I think really helped keep my energy up. Two of them had caffeine, which also gave me a lift. I generally avoid caffeine, because it keeps me up at night, but the amount of caffeine in GU is fairly small, and I figure I burn it off while running. I brought one GU with no caffeine, one with 20 mg, and one with 40 mg. Same as about half a cup of coffee for both of those, and it's early in the day, so I don't think it will bother me. Also drank most of a full bottle of water. I had a protein drink in the morning before I left.

It was starting to get pretty warm by the time I finished, at a little after 10 AM, but there was some slight cloud cover that kept the sun from beating down too hard, so the heat didn't bother me much. My digestion was a bit wonky, that might have slowed me down a little, but I didn't stop to use the bathroom until after I'd finished the run. I wanted to see if I could do a half marathon without any bathroom breaks, and it looks like I can!

All in all, I'm much more relaxed and looking forward to my runs instead of dreading them, so I'm glad I decided to do the half instead of the full marathon this time.