Ah, the 20 miler. It’s a staple of marathon training. I don’t know anyone who has done 26.2 without doing a few 20s weeks before.
Because I ran a 25k last weekend, I’m actually a week late based on my Boston training, so I was anxious to get this one under my belt. And man did it hurt. I ran with some good friends and great runners. Five of us met at 6:30am at our traditional starting point and hit the road.
Our route woud up behind pretty hilly, and I felt like we were hitting it hard and based on effort I though we’d have just slower than 8 minute pace. It was actually 8:28, which was suprising. But not nearly as suprprising at the climb in our route — 1,742 feet which is a lot! The impossible 25k I did last weekend was only 1,400 feet of climb. No wonder I hurt so much.
I’ve got to think more about the elevation profile — Ascent calls it 1,742 but mapmyrun says it’s 597 feet. But when I look at the elevation profile on either it seems that mapmyrun is just counting the gross climb and descent and not the net climb of each and every hill. Complicated! I was lucky to have my friends Guy, Karen and Ted run the route and I’m sure between us was can figure out which is right; already writing the email. Obsessive? Nah, not me.
OK enough complaining — it was a great run, but it was tiring. Towards the end of the run I was talking with Bill, who isn’t training for a marathon this time, but was still running hard. “20 milers are the worst. I think it’s worse than the marathon?” I had to ask how that could be — “There’s no reward after a 20 miler.” Good answer. I rewarded myself with a nap before lunch, and then a nap after lunch.
I’ve posted the route so I can also put it on runner.org — it won’t mean much to folks who haven’t had the pleasure of doing this run, but I amazed at the hills. It makes me feel much better about being sore. But much worse about doing it again.
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