And You May Say To Yourself, "This Is Not My Beautiful House"

  And you may find yourself, waking at 5 am to run 20 miles.

And you may find yourself, running on both a treadmill and a track

And you may find yourself, running behind the legs of some gifted runners.

And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

Finished 20 miles today and it felt really good.  It’s only 23 days removed from the Ann Arbor marathon, so I’m pretty happy I was able to finish. Typically I would never be running this much, this close to the finish of a marathon, but the point of doing Ann Arbor was largely to build endurance and I was afraid if I waited too long I’d lose it.

So, I have a 20 miler done, and rather than just 5 to 7 weeks from race date as usual, it’s about 114 days, or 3.5 months before the New York marathon. Strange days.

Most peculiar.

Since I’ve also found myself  addicted to a foam roller. And I’ve been adapting to the incredible heat wave by running  some outside/inside ‘mixed’ runs. The last few runs, I did 75% outside in the heat, and then jaunted back home to my basement, where cold water awaited and a treadmill to finish.

This is not my regular running, this is not my typical training, ‘My god, how did I get here?’

But, It’s been a good mix to do the indoor outdoor thing when it gets to be 95 degrees, and works for me. All the water in the world doesn’t make this heat bearable. After all, There is water at the bottom of the ocean, Under the water, to carry the water.

I took it a step farther today for my 20 miler and decided to also do a running shoe mix in order to adapt to my new Saucony Kirvana 3's.. No, I couldn’t’ forgo my new ‘sneakers’ altogether, but running the whole 20 in them was a setup and prelude to an injury, so I did the outside part of the run with them on, and returned home to put on my other pair of deeply foamed, clod-hopping sneakers. 

During my initial miles at the track, I ran into a group who I have seen running around my neighborhood fast and furious. Yes, They are a higher breed of runner than I, doing fly by intervals and flash-like tempo runs, and they have those gaits that seem to be surrounded by a strong, glowing halo, where you can just tell they have such rock like strength and speed.  Well, apparently Tuesday morning at 6 am is speedwork time for these running aliens.  So, there I am doing my slowest, 830 first of a 20 miler pace, while they were doing 5:30 miles.    No, my ego wouldn’t let me try to keep up and blow my whole 20, even for a lap or two, so intead I just ran around mumbling.  “time isn't holding us, time isn’t after us..time isn’t holding us, time isn’t after us…”

No, it didn’t make them stop and think. Those with the halo like gaits, who tread lightly ran by me, while I had raised a metaphysical fist in my brain with each triumphant 8:30 step, and they were long gone by the time I ran back home to the second half of my run.

I finished my run, moving from 8:30’s closer to 8 minute miles by the end, and did the long sought after progressive 20 miler that I couldn’t really nail training for ann arbor.

Same as it ever was.

Same

   As

        It

             Ever

                      Was

 In case this post has made you crave for the real thing, or if (somehow) you  have no idea what all the weirdness refers to, click here:Once In A Lifetime, Talking Heads, on Youtube.

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22 Miles On A Record-Breaking Memorial Day

The last long run of a marathon training program is a climactic event. In some ways, more so than the actual marathon, which is sort of a victory lap.  I always approach them trying to mimic race day; eating the same, wearing the same things, running at the same time, twisting my thoughts in the same exact bent.

Ideally I look for a sponsored training run, and Running Fit was having one Saturday in Ann Arbor.  Unfortunately, my family was taking a weekend trip so couldn’t attend, so instead chose a solo run on Monday morning,

Since I like to run this last long run on semi-rested legs, my challenge was taking a three day trip without running.  This wasn’t easy, as Grand Haven had wonderful running routes along a lake front boardwalk and tons of trails.  I feel like I experience any new area best through the eyes of, and on the adventure of, a nice morning run. As it was, I stayed inside with the kids while my wife went for her workout along the lakeside. The only movements I did was lots of walking and chasing Frisbees. Lake Michigan was frigid so I imagined the water icing my still sore knees while we waded in the waves. My shoes remained at home, also resting in my closet.

The next challenge was mapping a route around my hometown’s very popular and quite large memorial day parade. It cut me off from my main running routes along 8 mile, so I spent a good chunk of time on Mapmyrun, and found a route that connected two gas stations (where I go to buy water and other needed supplies, and then hide them in shaded areas.) The route included the much needed hills to prepare me, and a way to run around the parade and return home.

The weather was 70 degrees at the start, but soon lifted up to 85 for much of the run, on its way to a Detroit Memorial Day-record breaking heat of  95 degrees. All under a perfectly (monstrously) blue sky.  After all the comments on posts I had written across the blogosphere on not canceling races due to heat, and threatening to still run these races using water from the sewer to hydrate and the bile of passerby’s for Gu, I certainly couldn’t let the heat dissuade me.

My legs were eager, and I started off way faster than I should have, and my whole plan to make this a progressively faster run was shot. Instead it was a sporadically faster run, with four 7:50’s and a couple of 8 minute miles mixed in with the rest averaging 8:20.

I took more breaks than usual at my self-made aid stations to pour water over my neck or swallow some s-caps in the shade.  Same way, I assume, that if (when) it’s 80 plus degrees during the marathon I will walk through aid stations to make sure to grab more than one cup of water.  I swear with every s-cap I took, I immediately tasted the salt streaming down my face into my mouth.

Oh, the strange skills we use.  In order to space out the water, I grabbed a a smaller water at the gas station and carried it for a a couple miles to hide it in the middle of my route.  I stashed it amongst some trees, but realized, like a pot of gold, I may never be able to find where I buried it, so I broke off some branches, and laid them on the other side of the sidewalk pointing to the life-saving water for a later miles.  A water cairn.

 And while I am sure the heat effected my time, I sort of enjoyed it.  Anything that makes my head a bit more hazy, makes me more prone to running hallucinations, and increases the running stud factor is all good.

The route had some nice hills, about 4 miles of a 2-3% incline and 2 miles of 3-5 % incline. Overall, the 22 mile route had 322 feet of elevation gain.  This was a fair challenge, but just a minor sparring partner for the 525 feet that the Ann Arbor 26.2 has waiting for me.

Never try anything new on marathon day, is a familiar adage, but for this long run I did. I hardly ever use Sunscreen, but since my noggin was roaring red from the weekend at the beach, I applied a high-grade Walgreen 30 SPF to my head and nose.  Well, as the sweat poured out my body, the blinding cream poured into my eye, and in my attempt to wipe it away, the leftover Vaseline on my hand I had used for body lube to stop from chaffing was added to the mix. The result was a blinding venom, and  I did at least 3 miles with one eye closed and cleansing tears filling my eye.

“I can’t see nuthing," I mumbled,  "You gotta open my eye.  Cut me Mick, cut me Mick....”

 But it was the aching legs that were the real challenge.   They already felt sore at mile 14, where in previous trainings this doesn’t happen, and I know it’s a function of my low weeky mileage.  This whole Ann Arbor marathon thing was just supposed to be a warm up to train for New York, and I’ll need to remind myself of that more than once I’m sure.

The greatness of a last long run allows me to change my self-talk a bit.  “After this, your training stops, it's all over, just this one left...” I could yell at my legs.   I told them the usual lies, like ‘we’ll take a whole week off after today” which of course isn't true.  “There is no tomorrow” I also screamed at them in my brain, not a full lie but maybe a half-truth.   I did what I could to summon everything out of me to get to that place where my greatest running passion springs forth.

And yes, there’s nothing like what gets pulled out of you during a long run, and that feeling when you finally arrive home, 3 Gu’s, 6 S-caps, and 22 miles later.  Another thing I took note of is, (as narcissistic as this could sound) I am always anxious to look at myself in the mirror after a long run. I want to see the slime on my face, the look in my eye, the beating blood-red head, all to see the metamorphosis of what the experience has done to me, since every time I accomplish these things I feel like a new beast.  It’s like the run is a full moon, and sucks the werewolf right out of me.

And, the beast I had turned myself into felt deliciously exhausted and hungry, and began to devour things. Here's what I ate the rest of the day:

8 ounces of strawberry recoverite                   

8 ounces of chocolate milk                                            

A chobani yogurts                                           

Carrots                                                                      
Peach                                                             
Cheeseburger                                               
 Hot dog                                                           

Franks and beans                                            

Corn                                                                

3 scoops of ice cream                                      

Apple Pie                                                        

Handful of Honey BBQ chips                                    

Kit kat.     

Ah, taper time. Time to eat, get fat, rest, and have my mentally deranged, tapering mind fight to roll back every mile I ran and tell myself I'm under-trained, I'll never finish, what the hell was I thinking, and of course, imagine all sorts of phantom injuries.                                                                   

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20 Miler Along 8 Mile

20 miles on the schedule today.  I planned this day off work in advance, so I could fit the long run in and have some veg time afterwards. It comes highly recommended by the author.

Similar to every marathon, with every long run there's always the fear that I wont' make it in the back of my mind. That I will blow up. That something will blow up. My stomach will blow up, my knee will blow up, my calf, my spirit, something.  It remands me of the expression that the idea of death is in every game. The idea that my legs will die is in every major run.  This voice of self-doubt appears to me as a vision of myself walking home with unused Gu in my pockets and my tail between my legs.

My calves had hurt all week, my last two runs of just six slow miles included walking breaks, and I had been icing and taking handfuls of ibuprofen, but still, even as of this morning, the calf hurt to the touch.  I made the mistake of doing the google diagnosis last night, and read all these posts about how if your calf hurts as such, that running on it can make it so much worse.

Instead, I trusted my experience.  Many times I have had this same pain, and as long as I started incredibly slow, let them warm up, that they would release instead of tighten and I could run free. I took Sunday fully off running, and did many Mr. Myagi warm my hands and then massage the hell out of them.

The weather was 70 at the start, 75 at the finish, zero clouds, a beautiful but hot day, but alas no emails form race officials offering a deferment.

As it was, I loved it. There is a space in my psyche and in my spirit that only a long run can tap in to. I started slow enough, sped up at times, and my legs felt as they should. Certainly not fresh as a regular taper would eventually provide, but enough that I could work through. I averaged under 8:20 pace with my fastest miles in the 7:50's and my slowest mile in the 8:40's.    That moment when I knew it was going to hurt but I was going to make it, I was good, and my second 20 miler would be behind me. The metamorphis that a long run puts you through was complete.

I have a loop I do, 4 miles to a gas station where I grab big jugs of water and a kit kat, place them under the shade of my own personal evergreen, and then do 4 miles, out and back,along 8 mile road (yes, that 8 mile) and then return to refuel.  Some minor hills are along the way to prepare me for the beasts I'm about to face in the Ann Arbor marathon, but the main goal is to train my body to run that far and fuel itself correctly.

As always, I saw some strange things. I waved to a neighbor at mile .5 and then again a few hours later at mile 19, and they gave me a perplexed look.

I had my hands in the air with a "WTF!: look at at least 3 cars who almost hit me.

And at one point, a hearse drove by, followed slowly by 20 cars with the orange flags on top. It is always a bit odd to see a funeral procession on a life-affirming long run. In my running haze the hearse stopped, a tall, pale man got out of the long black car, opened up the back door, and wheeled the casket my way.  The lid popped open to reveal the casket was empty just before it came to rest at my feet.

Of course, this metaphysical, supernatural, childhood memory fear-driven illusion  faded away as quickly as I wiped the salty sweat from my eyes, and I watched as the funeral procession took a left turn to go honor the dead as I ran on. Miles to go before I sleep.

Next up is a 22 miler 2 weeks from now.

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Anyone remember this Dude below?  First person to name him wins a little something-something.

Hi, I drive a Hearse, I'm a Virgo, and I like walks on the beach.

"Okay, So Now What?"

 Adam: A tumor? Dr. Ross: Yes. Adam: Me? Dr. Ross: Yes. Adam: That doesn't make any sense though. I mean... I don't smoke, I don't drink... I recycle...

Turned in the first of my three twenty mile runs on Sunday, training for the Ann Arbor Marathon.  I get pretty high maintenance about these runs and treat them like the pinnacle of my training. They are mapped out and circled on the calendar long before they happen. I do a mini-taper and get rested before the event. I have my shoes out the night before, fav socks and shorts washed. In fact, if I am running early, I often sleep in the very same shorts I will be running in. It just eliminates one step.  My  little 'run refreshments' are ready to go the night before, meaning gu chomps, gu gels, s-caps, and money tucked into my shorts, and I put my breakfast out so I can eat right upon waking and wash it down with fresh coffee. Unlike some others who don’t eat a thing, I eat about 800 calories before these runs.   An ipod playing list has been hand chosen and ipod is fully charged. And of course I check the weather about sixteen thousand times, including details of each hour and winds, and map in motion.

As it is, flexibility is needed and you can't control everything, and a fever hit one of my children. This certainly brings out the eternal nurse in my wife,  but as I didn’t want to leave her alone in the house, I hit the treadmill in the basement to stay nearby just in case. Now I need shows ready, DVR set up,  blu-rays on hand, and the remotes lined up along the treadmill. By the way, my gears consist of a pair of Nike Pegasus shoes, I run on A Nordic Track Commercial 1500 treadmill, and watch a Samsung 32 inch HD with a Blue-Ray player, Netflix streaming as well as DVR.

And to think, somewhere out there a minimalist running dude is putting in these miles barefoot on some Colorado mountain trail.

The  treadmill was  a good idea anyway, since my legs are tore up and my knees constantly sore since from two major hill runs I did this week. After finally looking at the Ann Arbor course map which is twice as hilly (literally, twice as much elevation gain) as Boston, I went a little spastic. I was hoping that the soft surface of the treadmill would be more kind on my legs, and maybe I can put in these 20 miles with my knees not even noticing.

50/50.. with these odds, you'd be the favorite game in Vegas.

I’ve  always known that a long-run puts me into a strange emotional space. That's part of why I do it.  It basically makes me “long-run drunk”, and this was once again confirmed when I watched the movie, 50/50, and once again found myself sweating and crying and feeling the whole spectrum of emotional mucus.   50/50 is a great Bromance cancer treatment movie.  There was the unneeded elements of Wedding Crasher sprinkled in the film, but this may have been the best route to let Seth Rogen work his great comedic genius where he gets away with a crude playfulness. The movie was at times irreverent but also ultra-realistic and a touching look at how the world treats cancer patients, as well as a reminder of our mortality. It's a disease that has struck close to home, and motivated me to run the Chicago marathon raising funds for the American Cancer Society.  So, yes, in at least two scenes, I found my face filled with a mix of sweat and tears, and I had some good laughs and a wonderful time. Thirteen miles of the run passed like nothing and I was better off for it.

The movie ended with the great line, “Okay, so now what?” before fading to black.  Any good story should end with a new beginning playing in your mind long after the shades are drawn, the books is closed, or the credits roll. It didn’t hurt to have a Pearl Jam song playing as the credits rolled in 50/50.

My run  outlasted the movie, so I put in the last hour of Warrior to rewatch and all my major aches and pains of the run went away. It’s impossible to watch that movie and feel physical pain, and it was as great as the first time I watched in my 'Long-run drunkenness.'  I cruised through the end of the 20 miles, my pace clipping along in a satisfactory manner just 45 seconds slower than hoped for marathon pace.  I think part of how you measure a long run is if you can keep the same pace and gait at the end, with maybe tiny bits of reserve of energy left, as well as how you feel the next few days and how long it takes to recover. Nailed the first part, and the damage from the 20 miles will show up soon enough. Better than 50/50 my knee did notice, and I'll be skipping at least one run this week.

Okay, so now what? Rest up for a day, ice all the sore tendons with a bag of frozen peas, and then slowly build up to do a couple of ten milers = either marathon pace runs or a nice hill run, before my next 20 miler two weeks away, which I will definitely have to do on the road, and then a final 22 miler on Memorial day weekend three weeks out from marathon day.

Unless, of course, I get diagnosed with a tumor.

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Sweat, Tears, and Cheers - Best Long Run Movie Ever.

What a perfect Long Run movie and what a great experience. I am still buzzing 24 hours later.

Yesterday, I got on a treadmill for a 17 mile run and popped in the movie “Warrior” figuring it would be an inspiring movie to keep me going. This movie rocked my run and gave me my greatest Long Run this season.  I picked up my pace and ran many of the miles  much faster than I thought I was capable.  My 8:15 miles turned into 7:30’s, and the whole thing had an incredibly cathartic experience to it. I can’t tell if I was just my ‘runner’s high drunken state’ or not, but I think the movie made its way into one of my favorites of all time.

If you haven’t heard of it, "Warrior" is about a mixed martial arts tournament, and traces the path of two estranged brothers, both sons of an alcoholic. Both brothers have different yet inspiring reasons to fight. And the ‘nearly 1,000 days sober’ father, played by Nick Nolte, perhaps gets beaten the most as he tries to win back both their forgiveness. Yes, it has cliche and stereotypical training montages, is contrived at times, but it is done so well they are dismissed, forgiven, and beyond that even welcomed since you can appreciate them.

The pace of the movie lended itself perfect for a long run. It’s an engaging start that lets you dissociate, some exciting moments enough to keep you awake and keep your heart pounding, and as the characters are introduced you immediately want to know more about them and their back story. The second half just gains momentum and blasts off, like a good progressively faster long run.

Unlike most any fight movie you have ever seen, you are undecided as to who you want to win the final match.  

There is the refined, family-rearing, high school teaching, training to Beethoven, “could guest-star for the glee teacher,” noble father of two young girls trying to keep his house.

And then there’s the chip on his shoulder, savage, tough as nails, no-nonsense, I’m the biggest bad-ass even though I’m fragile and dismissive of any compliment so don’t’ try to get close to me, high school wrestling champion.

The memorable moments were many.  My tears mixed in with my sweat so many times during the movie. When Nick Nolte stood on the street looking at his grand kids through the front screen door, when the brothers won a fight you knew they would win but it was suspenseful anyways, and with each triumph I screamed from the basement fortunate that nobody else was home. Testosterone laden men who are also fragile, fractured, hurt, yet striving for something bigger than themselves - "Warrior" is from Mars the way Terms of Endearment is from Venus.

Yes, watching the training scenes was extra motivation to run, and my pace naturally picked up noticeably during the fight scenes, but it was the relationship battles that made the movie so great. You ached for forgiveness to be spread quickly among the family, but it never happened when you expected it, it was just dangled sweetly in front of you to the point you wanted to scream at the characters on the screen.  And if a movie can make you do that, even if you are totally wasted and high after running 17 miles, then it has done its job.

You ever notice during movies when you watch someone training for a fighting event, that the running scenes are of the most inspirational?  For example, if you want to do Rocky, what do you do?  You run through the streets early in the morning, bound up some stairs, and then dance around with your hands raised in the air. In “Warrior”, the training scenes focused on runs; in one  brother’s case morning runs through the city streets, and in the other, bounding up hills in the countryside, at first back in the pack and then in the lead. Nothing represents training, physical freedom and physical prowess such as running.

I didn’t see all the 2011 best movie Oscar nominees, but I’ve invited the cast of "Warrior" over my house and I am giving them a trophy and demanding a speech, because this was my Best Film of 2011. And despite what you may have heard about the violence, I found it fairly mild compared to what had been described, not at all disgusting, and actually less violent than the real thing.  Forceful, visceral, and blunt, but not gratuitous.

So, if I can just run with some sort of visor to this movie, I’m all set. Until then, if you are stuck on the dreadmill for whatever reason, especially for 2 hours and 20 minutes, put this movie in and get ready to rock.




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The Long Run Munchies and Giving Birth To Twins

I finished a 17 mile training run on Friday that had all the elements of what Long Runs demand.

First of all, my calves felt destroyed all week, which had me icing them with a bag of peas off and on, and for 3 days I was ingesting a ibuprofen/naproxen cocktail, so before I even started the run I feared I would have to bail out. Although the first 4 miles were tough, my incredibly smashed-in, painful to the touch and tight as a hangman's noose calf muscles finally released, so that by mile six I no longer feared they would stop me.

Then it was smooth sailing, it was a 8 mile rush of energy, of running faster than expected pace, of dashing down sidestreets I have never been on 'just because' and of everything flowing loose and easy.  Then the aches and pains hit, and already at mile 12 I had sore tightening muscles. 

I finished the last miles with some grunts, with some steps where I closed my eyes and felt a bit delirious, and I know I was in the zone cause I finished with sweat and mucus and who knows what other kind of mojo on my mug but was fully oblivious to the looks from those around me.

As with every long run, as much as I'm relieved when it's over, I also wish I was back in it.  I love those moments  where the exhaustion and muscle pain hits, where you feel so raw and the rest of the world fades away. I know I am in that zone when the headphones suck me into the music so intensely, and every nerve feels a strange combination of being numb yet fully exposed.

And then that moment where you walk into your house and chug down the cold chocolate milk waiting for you. My thoughts flow from  "damn that felt good" to "God I hope I didn't injure myself" and eventually  "Damn do I want to eat but please dont' eat more calories then you just burned."  Inevitably, I munch with the Long Run munchies that make the marijuana munchies look like nothing. 5,000 calorie days inevitably follow a long run day.

It's time to start taking my S-Caps. I love S-Caps.  Maybe they are just Placebo caps, who knows, but they help so much. It's just a load of sodium, but it works better than gatorade, and is probably more similar to pickle juice.

Cool thing was I took the day off of work on Friday to get the run in just so I could have family time over the weekend. (any other runners out there take a day off of work, or a half day, just to finish a long run?  It can't be just me.)

So, I know my calves will tighten up again, and they will ask for a cold pack of peas and be snuggly tucked into the calf sleeves before bed each night. I will massage them under the table during work meetings, I will take strides randomly in the middle of walking through parking lots just to see what they feel like, and i will wait for them to be fresh so I can start all over

It is amazing how 'intimate' we get with our chronic injuries and nagging pains. We know their triggers, we know their moods, we read their subtle signs and know when they will flair up and can tell what it takes to fix them.  They are sort of like the annoying co-workers who we know we have to deal with, who we don't necessarily like or hate because we've moved beyond liking or hating to just accepting them for what they are and modifying our work to fit them in.
 
I am at that point in my training where I know I could rock some runs if I could just take 5 days in a row off, but then I look at the calender and with only 61 more training days and my plan to do 6 more progressively longer Long Runs (another 17, an 18, 19, two 20's, and a 22) and I realize that I just don't have the time, so I push my limits, make my legs ragged, hit the ice more,and push through to the taper. I want to do more speed work, I want to do more hills, I want to do more miles, but as it is and I'm going at it the minimalist route. I can run though most any exhaustion, but one thing I can't do is run through injury, and after some years I can tell when I'm on the precipice of such an occurrence.  As the great Scotty Bowman (and probably many others) said, "You can play with pain but not with injury."

I've heard a marathon is like a giving birth, and much like you only get pregnant again after forgetting the pain of childbirth, you start training for a marathon again once you forget the pain of the 26.2 miles you just ran. In both cases, the joy remains.  Well, since I'm doing 2 marathons in 4 and 1/2 months it's going to feel like I'm giving birth to twins, and during the pain of the first delivery I will know that in the back of my mind another one is soon on its way.

Only 61 days left until it's time to taper for the Ann Arbor Marathon.


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SIMBA, YOU ARE MORE THAN WHAT YOU HAVE BECOME



If you see this bench during a Long Run, take a bite and carry on.



 

As a marathon runner, you get the joy of crossing the finish line in an event where most fear to start, but oh so much more. For one, there is nothing in life like finishing a Long Run in a marathon training program. Especially if it felt triumphant and you were running rather than just slogging and dragging yourself for the last few miles just to satisfy your training schedule.  I have had my share of those.  And then there’s that lovely, Saturday or Sunday afternoon exhausted feeling, where your whole body is tingling, all the molecules of your body seem to be on fire, and you can eat and eat and eat, and still not make up for all the calories lost.  People seem like zombies compared to what you just did, the beauty of life is vibrant and easy to see, and afternoon football seem so much more vivid.  I tend to look at the the athletes and think “I worked just as hard as you today, my good man.” You will sleep the sleep of the elite that night.

But, when it comes to Long Runs, there is so much variance on the buffet table of training options.  When to run the long run, how fast, how many, and at what length?  If you are obsessed enough to run like a crackhead looking for a rock, then you have googled pretty much every training table available. I am a firm believer in marathon training as an ‘Experiment of One’; the results will work for you and you alone. Of course, studying and having some sort of plan that resembles a tried and true program is important, but each marathon attempt is an experiment where you then modify your next program accordingly.  So, with that in mind, here’s what worked for me.

**Scheduling: First of all, when doing your marathon training schedule, do so backwards. Look at your marathon date, and then schedule your last long run three weeks out. This is the pinnacle of a training program, so start with that and then work backwards. Usually, there is a shoe store sponsored training run in your area around that date, so circle it on your calendar, DVR what needs DVR-ing, promise your spouse you will watch the kids on another date so you can have that day free, and let your mojo build to that moment.

**Help On The Way:  While you are on the go, you will need some help.  Here are some thoughts to get you by.

-A killer playlist on your iPod. But no, not killer from the beginning. Put in an hour long podcast to start. (Pheddipitations is my fav) and let yourself slowly build to some momentum building songs. Sing the songs as you run, and badly, and out loud as if nobody's listening.  And Love like you never been hurt and shoot snots out your nose like nobody's watching.

-Your Own Aid Station-  make a central point where you can run out and backs froms your water spot.  I have a route to a gas station where I run 4 miles, get a bunch of water and leave it by a tree, then do a few out and backs that return me to my water, until my final run home.  Yes, getting the water at the gas station with sweaty bills pulled from your shorts and perhaps snots on your nose may get you some looks, but really, shouldn’t the dude next to you buying a 5 dollar pack of smokes really be the one getting the looks. (For nonconformity, the world will whip you with its displeasure.  Feel the crack of the whip and ask for more.)

-Energizers and Fuel. Of course there is Gu, but ever since I read (I think it was in Runner magazine) about an ultra runner who gets by on Kit-Kats, I always buy a few and man are they perfect.  Easy to digest, a nice change, and my body responds more when I promise a kit-kat after another 2 miles more so than the poopy-gooey stuff.

-Anti-Inflammatories- (insert not a doctor disclaimer notes) Before a few of my long runs, I started taking a few Naproxen’s (Aleve) and I think it helps.  It may have been just a placebo effect, and it feels a little too much like cheating or doping or playing with nature, but as long as it's not oversused, I think it’s worth it.Test before trying in a race, as always.

** Getting There is Half The Fun: How to build up to your longest long run? Intially, I just ran a certain length and then bumped it up 2 miles for my next long run.  What I have found, is that for many of the long run lengths, I do 2 attempts at a certain mile length before I bump up. (maybe not all the lengths, for example, maybe two runs of 14 miles, one 16, two at 18, before moving on to twenty, and so on.) The first one is just to cover the miles, but the second is to do a few, up to 8, at marathon pace. Preferably the last parts of the run to get yourself prepared to run fast when you are tired.  That is so important, I believe, cause you can get to the point where you can run 20 miles at a certain pace in your sleep, against the wind in the rain, and on a boat with a goat, but if your legs can’t handle the speed, then you are done. 

** Rabbit or The Hare:  Start as a cute-as-hell turtle with the voice of that sea turtle dude from Finding Nemo, but end with the leg kicks of a wrasckly wrabbit. Some speed or marathon pace runs during some of your long runs is essential. This can be a shock to your legs if you have done 10 miles at a comfortable pace, and then you try to do that last 4 or 6 at race pace, so try some striders at race pace for a minute or two a mile before you hit the change of pace to preprare.  The initial shock will seem hard, but once you hit it again, it will flow smoother. Think of it as getting into a cold pool. At first it is cold and shriveling, but then jumping back in again, its nuttin. 

**Nothing Sacred.  Top out with a run longer than the token 20 miles.  Of all the changes that helped me to reach my BQ PR, (including a 3 instead of  2 week taper, resting when my mental demons begged me to run more) it was topping out at 23 mile long run that put me over the top.  Making this change totally changed the feel of the last 6.2 of the marathon. Despite the character in my novel The Jade Rabbit, who believes in the adage that the last 6.2 are sacred and should be saved for the race. (I was going for the ‘Hemmingway-esque’ metaphor of fearing the psychologically dark places.)  Running 20 is enough for many folks, but as I stated, in this experiment of one, it didn’t work. 

Of course, the risk is that the last long run damaged me nearly as much as the race itself, so what I did was go out super-duper slogging slow.  I ran the first ten miles slow, sped up for the next 5 to 6 miles, and then ran the last 8 at marathon pace.  It made a huge difference. 

If you are doing a training run with a running group, and you are doing more than the group is, then get there early and do them first rather than afterwards. Nothing more dehumanizing than having to run on when everyone else has finished. You will regret going more, you may stop, and you will feel slow when everyone else sees you crossing long after they did. On the other hand, if you get there thirty minutes before hand and put in three miles, you will feel a stud or an amazing Amazon warrior.  (which you already are, by the way, so don’t forget it.)

**Simba, you are more than what you have become; Just some thoughts that worked for me.  Take what you want and trash the rest.  I will ramble on more about recovery time, recovery nutrition, why I cry every time I see The Lion King, tapering, how and why to brush your teeth in the shower, and why I don’t trust people who wink at me at a later date.