Sun: 50k!/4:12/5:02/Neo Everything went as well as I could have hoped for. Didn't start off great, as I took a while to get ready and ended up waking Miho up at around 5:30, which was unpleasant. Prepared by making three PB wraps in tortillas, an apple cut in two, and put my camelbak bladder with 1L of water in the bigger Innov8 pack. I wore shorts with compression socks, heat tech layer underneath, one layer on top of that and a light wind layer. Brought extra short and long sleeve tops in case I wanted to change (which I didn't).
Headed off NW along the Arakawa with the intention of just taking it easy and going 25K each way. I did end up using the garmin, but set it to the time so I wouldn't be tempted to check my pace or time. I did get alerts every 10K, and my splits were 48:51/50:15/49:42/51:11/52:29. Pretty much the time I was hoping for. The first 15k were comfortable and went by relatively quickly. Things got a bit tedious during the next 15k, especially as there weren't any markers, so I wasn't sure exactly where to turn around. I had intended to eat food every 10k, but ended up eating breakfast less than an hour before I left, so I didn't feel like eating anything until around the 20k mark, when I ate half an apple. I was drinking water about every 5k or so. The distance started to go by more quickly after about 30k, and I ate my first PB wrap around then. Eating PB and running was a bit challenging, but still way better than nasty gels. I wasn't surprised to start losing speed during the last 20k, and the last 10k were especially challenging. I ate the rest of the apple at about 40k, and then was just pushing. I never actually thought about quitting (at least not too seriously), but was very happy when I got that last alert that marked 50k.
My legs felt amazingly good at the end of it, much better than the marathons I have run (even though my marathon time was better than my two actual marathons 3:31), and I'm sure it's related to the fact that there was not the intensity and adrenaline that goes into racing. Also, I was super impressed with the Neos, very comfortable the whole time, and not a blister to speak of. The bottoms of my feet were tired for sure, but still no blisters. I also didn't have any chafing at all, which surprised me, probably because of the cool 10-12C conditions.
I can't say I felt a lot of elation at finishing, but still very satisfied. Miho was still mad when I got home, so that did not add to the joy. I guess I never really doubted whether I could actually do it, since it isn't that much further than a marathon. But it is reassuring to know that I can do it alone and not find it boring or tedious, and that I can run a decent time like that just in training.
And so now I find myself faced with the question: I can run 50k; so what?
Mon: Rest.
Tue: Bike 33k
Wed: Bike 33k
Thu: 12.4/59:34/4:49/Neo My legs felt ready to run today, and although I took it easy on the speed, it was still tough. Not pain really, just really tired legs and a real effort to keep up a normal pace. Will try again to see how it feels.
Fri: 12.2/57:18/4:42/Mach 11 Felt better today, not nearly as much work to keep up a decent pace. Legs still tired, and a little achy in the left hamstring, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Sat: 12.2/57:54/4:31/VFF Same distance and the previous day, but a very different run in terms of how I felt. Running during the day is always nicer, and it was warm and sunny. Was able to continue building speed throughout, although running a 4:20 pace towards the end was tiring and made me think about how hard it would be to keep up during a whole marathon. But still plenty of time to prepare for that!
Total Mileage: 86.8 Very happy that I could put in decent mileage during the same week of the 50k run! will see if I can't get over the 90k mark this week.
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