Hittin' the Sauce

So, after the debacle of the Johnny poo poo pants run, I laid pretty low last night and tried to be good to my tummy.  I knew I had a 14 miler today, and I really really wanted to try to get it done.  My plan suggested doing one long run the day after a tempo run to see what it felt like to run long on tired legs, aka, the last 14 miles of a marathon.  I figured, why not?

Coach Mary's ICB

Well, my tummy wasn't too excited about this plan this morning.  I went to go make an irish car bomb (as it seems this is now named :-P now, kids, its not a mixed drink, its a protein shake!) and discovered I was out of protein powder, so I made do with homemade applesauce with breakfast.  Next time, I'm going the full enchilada :-)

I also decided to do something very scary in the world of type A personality me.  I taped over my watch before I left, deciding to run this one purely on how my body felt.  Usually, I go out too fast on the first 5 miles to "put time in the tank" and then go slower the second two segments.  It works for me, but I wanted to see how my body ran NOT based off a clock. 

SUPER SCARY!!
So, I set off.  The first 5 miles seemed...slow.  I took advantage of downhills, did a run up halfway/walk the rest with uphills, and chugged along nice and easy on the flats.  I took in nutrition around mile 7 ( a little later than normal, but my stomach was still pretty fragile) and battled the strong headwinds for about half my course.  (brrr...I think I under dressed today!)  All in all, it was a pretty good run.  I knew I had to be slower than my last run, but my body felt ok...a bit tired, of course, but definitely ready to tackle 12 more miles.

When I got home, I showered, changed, and stretched.  I debated NOT taking off the duct tape...if I was on pace, I knew it would re affirm the fact that I was ready for my marathon,, but what if I was off?  What if I was way way off-I knew I was playing a mental game with myself, but so be it.  With trepidation (and in front of my very amused husband), I pulled the tape off.....

2:04:43.

What???  I plugged into mapmytri.com to review my route, double checking for accuracy.  14.01 miles, yup.  Seriously??

The Workout
Distance: 14.01 miles
Time: 2:04:43
Pace: 8:54/mi

Wowza.  Not only did I kill this run, but I felt awesome running under marathon pace!  (My long run pace is supposed to be a 9:10-9:30, MP goal pace is 9:06.

FREAKING.  AWESOME.

Or should I say "awesomesauce?"