Kat, great long run!  Gives you a good feeling, doesn't it?

Karl, another good one.  It's got to be hard running in unknown territory"

Needless to say, I'm jealous.

First off - Kat - WOW! I too am VERY jealous!! I wish I had that speed! That is awesome!! What a way to start a Sunday!! WHOOO HOOO!!

I did 17 today. Had my alarm set for 5:45am although I hit snooze a few too many times. Since I'm still crashing at a friends, didn't have my normal breakfast but managed to find some toast that I washed down with some powerade. Hit the trail running at about 7:45am. First time I had parked my car in a place and used it as a central location to rehydrate, etc. Worked out quite well!! 17 miles is a loooong run. I hit the wall around mile 14 and the last three miles took me forever. I ended up walking/jogging most of the last 1.5 miles until I realized that I could finish in under 3 hours!! So the last little stretch was all I could muster (which wasn't much by that point) and finished JUST under 3 hours (2:59 and some change to be exact) which works out to a 10:34 pace. I should have started earlier - it was hot hot hot after about an hour in. I ended up having to walk almost a mile back to my car once finished and that took me forever and I felt like I was going to vomit.

Little side funny story. Since I kept going out and back to my car, I kept passing some of the same people over and over again. Kept passing this guy on his bike, probably 3-4 times and the last time on my walk back to my car where I probably looked like death. In passing he mentions "MN huh?" which I didn't think much of at the time as I was just struggling to stay upright and moving forward. I get back to my car and there was a little note on my windshield from the biker guy. People still do that?! Kind of brightened my day a little bit.

Kat, I'm worried.

Mostly about you beating me.

Way to go on a great run!!!  Awesome job.

Hey everyone - great job on all your runs, not only the challenges but also the triumphs! We really are in the middle of training season...this is about as intense as it gets!

Kat - I heard a report on the radio that a low-level flying UFO was seen in Pittsburgh...they said it was too fast to be described, but now I can call up the UFO investigators and just tell them it was my friend Kat! Ha!

Shell - great work on the 17 miles. Having that central car really is one of the only ways to survive out there, especially when your body wants...no, NEEDS to rehydrate and get more energy. 7:45am is a good start time...yeah you could have gone earlier but you also could have started at 8:30 or later...nice work again!

This weekend and next weekend I'm skipping my saturday and sunday runs because of the triathlon. Today was a full test run of the olympic-sized race (1 mile swim, 22.3 bike, 6.2 run) and it went pretty well. Got in the water at 8am, although the course wasn't exact so I think I did less than a mile. Still interesting to swim in open water vs a pool. It was nice not to have to turn every 50m, but not seeing the ground and constantly having to look up ahead to make sure I'm not about to run into a boat or another swimmer, was all a very big change from my practice. But I expected and felt good in the water.

Then I did a slow transition (purposefully slow) to the biking aspect, which also went well. I did the official course (along with a bunch of other bikers doing the same thing) and I like it since on the bike you have a chance to drink and eat energy stuff before the running part. My right pedal clip broke off half-way through though...but that wasn't race-ending, so I'm not too worried.

Finally transitioned to the run section. This was the most valuable to me since I wanted to see how my legs felt after biking for 22 miles. They actually felt pretty good and I clocked the 6-mile split at 55 minutes...so just over a 9-minute pace, which is fine with me. My target is to break 3 hours total next Sunday during the actual race...so pending no flat tires (or snapping turtles  ), I think it'll be close but realistic.

Estimated splits:

1 mile swim: 31 min

22.3 bike: 1:15

6.2 run: 56 min

This leaves 18 minutes for all transition times, to break 3 hours.

Congrats to Kat, Karl, Ruby, Kris, and all the others on very successful long runs!

Yesterday I had said was not a good start.  Felt like crap, and weather was just as bad. The paln was to take my kids up to a friends camp on Lake Ontario, in NY.  I packed my gear, with water bottles and gel packs just in case I was feeling better, and I could go ahead and squeeze it in.  I was also a bit leary running long in an unfamiliar place, but I was ready to try.

I got up to the lake and was feeling pretty good, so I asked my buddy for a measured loop.  He had a 3.25 mile loop, which was longer than the 18 planned if I did 6 loops, but I figured, what the heck, I could always just cut one loop out if I was not ready for it.

I set up my bottles and gels, and off I went, but the loop seemed much longer than 3.25, so I do the second lap, and yes it was definitely longer, because I run between 8:30-9 on long runs, and it was taking me 40+ minutes to do these loops. The first two laps seemed the most difficult, just getting the body going, lap three I was in the groove and already visualizing lap 4, and seeing myself zip along on lap five.  Visualization did not match reality!!! lap 4 was a bit more challenging as slight inclines seemed more like real climbs, by lap five I was forced to do a run - walk, more out of running out of energy from not having more to eat.  Legs felt amazingly good, but the furnace was running empty.  What was of major concern was my right knee, and today, the day after, it feels better than ever!

After the run, it took a good hour for my body to recover, and I knew I had done alot more than 18.  So I went on a mapping site, measured the course, and found I had done 21 miles in 3:14!!  Could not believe it.

Today not much soreness, and energy is good!!  Next week is a step back, but with a half-marathon thrown in!!  What was a questionable to start finished great.  Now to work on how to keep fueled.

Have a a great week all!

Ken

Shell, great run, nice note?  Isaac, you're going to be under 3 hours, enjoy! Nita, get out of that hot area of the country and run your but off as you know you can.  And everyone else, you done good!    And we all came to the same conclusion - everyone on this board rocks!!! Now if we just can get those marathons out of the way, we'd have more time to post.