My Last Training Run: 22-Miles

I did my last training run before the marathon on Friday. 22 miles, and it wasn't pretty. There are definitely a few things I would do differently should I do another full marathon, which I will get to in a different post and running 22 miles by myself is one of those I would change. I'm on day three of recovery and some things still don't feel right. Miraculously, I still have my toenails (gotta think positive thoughts)!

I have had several friends (marathon veterans) tell me they wished they would have done a 22 mile training run. So I have had it in my head that 22-miles is the magic number, and I've been working up to that all along. The problem- was mixing training runs in with holiday and travel and my formerly predictable-training schedule - became much less predictable. I also managed to tweak my foot (somehow) during a short run when I was back in California for Christmas. Which that little tweak? Yeah- it's for sure coming back to haunt me.

Aaron and I typically do our long runs together, but I wanted to get it over with so I'd have enough recovery time and I had Friday off work. So a solo run for me it was. Also, the weather predicted rain for Saturday. I set off Friday morning, armed with my Nuun tablets, hydration belt and music (who knew how much stuff I'd have to pack). It was cold- and my poor California heart has never adjusted to anything colder than 50 degrees. It was 46 when I started out, but was supposed to warm up to 55. Totally doable.

Around mile 5 is when things started going downhill. If you're doing the math- that means I had 17 miles left to go (not that I was counting). My foot that I hurt in California- was killing me. The main pain is on the front part of my ankle. I tried to ignore it. Didn't work. I tried to stretch it. Didn't work. I was going to throw in the towel for the day, but I know myself- and I knew I had to get through these 22-miles to make me feel prepared for race day. Stubborn much?

So, I had no choice but to just get through it. I was actually able to run on it until mile 17 or 18 and had worked up a fairly decent 9:30 pace. By that time, my left leg had started compensating for the problems I had with my right ankle. I knew I had to stop and walk the rest. I made a few phone calls, made an appointment to drop Sawyer off at the groomers- ya know- just went about my normal business for those last few miles. I ended up finishing in 4:08, which would put me riiiight around the 5 hour mark for the full. My goal is to run a 4:30 race.

By the time I finished- I knew I had done some damage to my foot. It was a little numb and appeared to be a bit swollen. I'm icing it every night and not wearing heels to work (oh the sacrifices we make). I also took the last couple of days off from running/working out and treated myself to a massage yesterday. It's feeling better, but definitely not 100% , so I need to focus extra hard on treating my ankle nicely leading up to the race.

Soooo.... here is my PSA for the day. Just because I did something stupid- doesn't mean you should do the same. If it hurts. Just stop. Funny- because I'm pretty sure I said the same thing when Aaron got his stress fracture.

I'm back to the gym tonight and some yoga tomorrow. And lots of ice :) Happy Monday and back to work days for all of you!