PEAK WEEK & PORTLANDATHON FIVE MILER

My squiggly spaghetti route twenty miler. Contains a 6 mile, 10 mile, and 4 mile loop. 

Recently I had my "peak" week of the training cycle. I ended up running 40 miles, including my final twenty mile run before the race. The day after the twenty I ran the Portlandathon 5 Mile race, although at a very casual pace. All told it was a busy week with five days of running but my legs responded well. It definitely gave me another boost of confidence headed into race day. Overall I am feeling strong and my body has responded really well to the training.

Long run with Sunstone.

In order to "rest up" for the busy weekend, I run 7 miles on Monday and then 4 each on Tuesday and Thursday. That left me feeling pretty spunky for my twenty miler on Saturday. Originally I thought I was going to have to run this alone, but after some thought I decided to incorporate Sunstone's normal ten mile Saturday morning run into my longer run. They were going to be running from the school by my house at 8am, which would mean I just needed to run ten more. The real question is how I wanted to break those ten up. All after the group run? Some before, some after?

I decided, despite how painful it was, to wake up at 6:30 and start running at 7:00am. That meant I could get six miles in before the ten mile group run, leaving me with just four more afterward. So before the sun even rose, I was up and getting dressed. The things running makes me do. I ended up getting to run through the sunrise, which was pretty cool. All told those six miles went pretty quick. I made myself an aid station at my car, so I ate a some snacks before joining Sunstone for their ten.

The ten with Sunstone also went really well. It was a pretty small group because of a bunch of regulars were either doing the Chicago Marathon or Portlandathon the next day. The weather was great though, nice and clear, and the fall colors are starting to hit, so it was really the perfect running day! I took two fruit snacks with me and ate those along the way. I also carried a bottle with me the whole time to stay hydrated. Definitely missing the PMC aid stations, but was able to replicate them pretty nicely on this run with the car stops.

So after the run with Sunstone I was sixteen miles in. At this point another four miles didn't sound too bad. My legs actually felt really good for the distance and I would chalk this up as one of the more successful twenty mile runs. So after another brief stop at the car, it was out to finish off the twenty miles. Went off without a hitch. What a sense of relief it was to finish! No more 20 milers! Nothing but downhill from here! Even though there were a couple weeks left in training I felt like I was basically at the finish line.

Portlandathon with Katie.

All told my legs felt pretty good, which was a positive thing, because the next morning I had to wake up early *again* and head downtown to Portland on the MAX to run the Portlandathon 5 Mile race. Katie and I had signed up for this a while back to support the race, which stepped in last minute to take over for the Portland Marathon, which folded after last year's race due to the owner's mismanagement. The Portlandathon filled the void for that first Sunday in October, offering a full, half, 5 mile, and 4 mile walk. So we signed up for the five miler just to show our support because I had no intentions of doing more the day after my key final twenty miler.

There is actually some history with me running a race the day after a twenty miler. Twice, in 2013 and 2014, I ran the Pints to Pasta 10k the day after the PMC Brunch Run twenty miler. The difference between this time and previously though was I actually raced those 10ks back in the day. This time, with Katie, we just happily jogged along at 10:20 pace without a care in the world. Really, there is not much to report from this race, it was just a giant out and back along Naito/Front, something I have done a bajillion times now, but it was still fun to be out there. The atmosphere of a race is always good to be around; plus, there was a delicious meal of mac'n'cheeese and garlic bread afterward.

I obviously took Monday off, then proceeded to run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Wednesday was even a race pace test at 8:25 that went pretty well. So the legs really held up and responded great. Less than two weeks to go at this point. Eek!