This was the last hard weekend before tapering begins for the Goofy Challenge in January at Disney World. I had both a 10 mile and 20 mile run scheduled for the weekend – I had to do it on the treadmill due to some high windchill readings but I got it done.
The 10 miler on Saturday went pretty – no where near as fast as the run on Thursday night but 83:37 at 1% incline was more than respectable. I had a total of 5 minutes of walking and most of the run periods were at 7.2 or 7.5 mph. I got the run done early in the day and then had to do a 5.5 hour round trip road trip to my old home town to pick up my Mom and bring her into Winnipeg for Christmas. My back was aching by the time I got back home – the run and then drive really stiffened things up.
I managed to get the back worked out but was still worried about being stiff for the 20 miler!
I guess I didn’t have to worry about the stiffness – I could tell very early in the run that my legs felt good and I would be able to do pretty well. I started off relatively slow (as you should with a long slow run) but I seemed to abandon the “slow” concept and started pushing. I’m not exactly sure why but most likely I just wanted to get it done. I had about 6 minutes of breaks refilling the water bottle and the timer on the treadmill was 2:43:52 – giving me a total around 2:50 for the run. Very decent time – but not really the long slow run it was supposed to be. It was closer to race pace and I’m not sure what the consequences of that will be but I am sure there will be some. I can say I am more tired than I expected to be.
With today’s run done I now start tapering into the Goofy Challenge. I was looking forward to the break of tapering but looking at my schedule, I still have 70.5 scheduled miles to go before getting on the plane for Orlando! I still have one double digit mile run (half marathon distance) and a couple in the 8/9 mile range as well as several shorter runs. Everything is going to seem easier at this point but the hard push is not done yet! I actually like that I have an 8 miler on Christmas Day – as long as I get it done before supper I will be able to have a good feast without guilt!
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