Slight setback?

Went out for my planned 20 miler Sunday at 9:45am with rain coming down and a large cloud hanging over the Greenville radar, but scattered showers behind it - so some respite from the wetness, supposedly. 40° temps weren't horrible either but I had to throw on one more layer under my windbreaker before I started and it worked out just fine. The rain went on and off form "steady" to "heavy" and back and forth repeatedly. I just had to laugh out loud at one point it was so ridiculous out there, doing laps, watching the sides of the road get filled with water. My heron showed up for a lap, so I take that as a good omen - even though I had to walk much of the last 2 laps. My on and off left ankle/shin was sore the night before for no reason, then crept up on me after 5 miles or so. I was really worried I'd have to stop after a 10k or so, but it never got too bad. It eventually went away after 15 miles or so, then I proceeded to have my 3 fastest laps (trying to go for even splits and making up for my 3 Gu breaks). My last little break did me in though - More pain that had me slowly walking, trying to shuffle the remaining two miles. I wanted that 20 (actually - 20.4 miles). My 9:02 pace thru 18 miles turned into a 9:17 overall, but that's ok. Finishing is my goal as always, uninjured is up there too. Third goal is the even split times. One thing different about this run - even during nd after those faster laps towards the end - no heaviness or soreness in my thighs or hips - and that is always where I feel it, the speed tapers off and I have to mentally push myself to continue.
More to follow on this. Extra rest day tomorrow.

and 20 = 1000!

I took it a little easy this week and didn't worry too much about my paces for my speedwork and tempo runs. I wasn't too confident in completing today's scheduled 20 miler though. Didn't have ankle pain this week, it just never felt 100%. So I went out at 6am (with only 1 Gu - somehow, I used up my stash) and decided my 7:30 lap time was a good start, but I'd back off if needed. My goal was to just finish it this time. My 1st "20" for this training cycle was actually 18, but on trails at Paris Mtn. My 2nd one ended at 16 with pain. If I didn't make this one - I was sincerely thinking about skipping the Charlotte Full. Still dark of course and ~44°, but I knew it would get up to the mid 50's after 3 hours or so (and I was right) - and it was good weather for running. Settled into my pace and kept it for 15+ miles. Then it got more interesting (although I did watch a heron at the lake on and off for 45 minutes, eating fish, wading around and flying back and forth across the water). Last 5 miles dealt with a little lower back pain (that poor posture again), some ab soreness (ab work twice a week isn't enough I guess) and the heavy legs. Took a few more walk breaks the last few miles , but finished my 20 miler! 20.4 to be exact in 3:05. No complaints about the time - it's just as poorly as I was feeling - the next 6 miles would not be pleasant, and with hills to boot? ugh! Why am I even considering a 31 miler?
Charlotte is 5 full weeks away, so one 1/2 marathon next weekend, one more Long run (20 again) and then the taper begins. Guess I need to register for it before it's too late!
Anyway - so today's 20 miler brought me to 32 for the week, but the big threshold I passed was going over 1,000 miles for the year! Going back and calculating - I hit 952 last year. Had never really thought about yearly mileage until recently (running article or another blog maybe?), but I like that number. With my schedule - I hope for another 200 in the remaining weeks!

Travel, 20 miler?

So I had to travel last week, got in a 3 miler recovery run after the half before I left, did 3 on a treadmill while in Juarez, MX, then a nice 8 miler in the Nice cooler morning back here Friday. Today was my long slow run (after going to Atlanta Saturday!), scheduled for ~20 miles. After the first 18 I did weeks back - I was not feeling that great afterwards, so I was really going to be happy with hitting around 18 this morning. I was also able to sleep in a little due to the cooler temps, so up at 6:20 to start out at 6:45 worked nicely. Got my 2 chocolate (I was out of Vanilla) Gu's, water, fruit punch gatorade and set off on my ~0.9 mile loop. (It's probably closer to 0.85, but I go with 0.9!). Side note - the NYC marathon provides Power Bar Gu's, so I picked some up this afternoon to test next weekend. Also - lemon-lime gatorade, which I still need to pick up. I've only really done water during a run, except for those few occasions where that is the only option!
Anyway - ran a Very consistent 8 minute/lap pace. 40:00 thru 5 laps, 79:51 thru 8, 119:43 thru 12, 159:51 thru 16, 239:58 thru 20, 255:57 thru 22. 13 laps between 7:55-8:04. Walked one extra lap to cool down - so total time out was 3:09:58 for 21.7 miles. Felt great too...and very happy to have done it. NYC is 6 weeks away, so if I can maintain this - I'll be ok!