18 Mile Training Run: So Far, So Good

Peter K has taught me a bazillion strategies for success: track my food, find a mentor, believe in myself, etc. I’ll be honest: I use almost all of them regularly and most of them almost religiously. How has that worked out for me? Well, I’ve lost 70 pounds, kept it off over 2 years now, and have completed 6 half marathons, 1 duathlon and 7 triathlons (with one more next week), and am training hard for the New York Marathon in November. I’d say so far, so good.

Yesterday morning, as I left my house ridiculously early for a Saturday morning, I ran through the arsenal of Peter K strategies in my head until I found the one I was looking for: set yourself up to succeed. What Peter means by that, is to set up your goals, environment, everything to ensure you’ll be able to achieve them. It’s pretty simple if you think about it: if you’re not a morning person, how long will you happily be able to do daily workouts at 5 AM, rather than after work when you’re more in your own zone?

So, once I remembered the strategy of setting myself up for success, I thought about the task that was laid out before me: I had to run 18 miles. Yes, all at once. For a couple of days I’d been stressing about this run, which I had disguised as “carb loading”. Finally, though, I realized that this run was going to happen whether I was prepared for it mentally, or just full of pasta. So, I thought about two other Peter K strategies: 1) break big tasks up into smaller ones, and 2) play to your own strengths.

I have two big strengths. The first is that I’m ridiculously organized, and the second is math. Really. When I was 10 I used to do my brother’s high school algebra homework for fun. So, I thought about my run as a big equation that needed to be solved, and decided that instead of running 9 miles out and 9 back, that I would run my regular 6 mile loop 3 times. Since that was going to bring me back to my own house three times, at the bottom of my front steps I laid out water bottles, Gel packs and a towel. Then, off I went.

The first 6 miles felt great, kind of like a warm up. The toughest part was cresting the hill just before my own house and suddenly realizing that rather than being done I was going to have to towel off and then turn around and run the same loop again – twice. It was a pretty hot day, a lot more humid than I had anticipated, and by the time I finished loop #1 my shirt was soaked in sweat. So, when I got home, I ran back in the house, changed my shirt and then set off again. I had a quick drink at my bottom step, sucked down a Gu, and headed back out.

A couple of weeks earlier I’d done a 17 mile run, and it had been the most difficult thing I’ve ever done (and yes, I’m including birthing two children). That time, by mile 8 I was alternating running and walking, and every step was sheer pain. This run was different, though. The first 8 miles were completely energizing. Mile 9 was the turn-around for the second loop, and as I changed direction to head back home, I actually did a quick pump fist in victory of actually having enough energy to turn around and keep going.

I’ll admit, that energy started to wane by about mile 11. But, since I’d broken up my run into smaller pieces and was doing my best to think exclusively in numbers, I was able to tell myself “just one more mile until you finish this part. You can do that.”

I finished that mile. Again, drenched in sweat, I ran back into the house and changed my shirt again. Then I was back at my bottom step, drinking water, eating Gu, and heading back out for my third 6 mile loop.

The biggest problem is that most of my runs start with the same 1-½ mile stretch that is awful. The houses are blasé, the road dips severely to the outside forcing you to run in the middle, and there are a ton of cars on it forcing you to run back on the edge where your knee hurts because of the severe dip mentioned earlier. And here I was, about to run that mile and a half stretch for the 5^th time. But, I thought about Peter’s trick of breaking things up into smaller pieces and thought, “OK, a mile and a half of crap, 3 miles in the middle, then a mile and a half of crap going back and then you’re done!”

As I was running down that road (more on the edge than in the middle due to the volume of drivers out that morning), I realized something: I hadn’t walked one step of my run so far. I remembered Peter’s strategy of setting attainable goals, and came up with a new one at about mile 13 of an 18 mile run. No walking. I was going to RUN 18 miles. Harrumph.

Mile 13 came and went, as did mile 14. By then, my knee was spasming periodically, my ankle hurt, and I had a new pain on the top of my left foot. But I felt sensational. I was conquering this run, one step at a time.

At mile 17 it occurred to me that I was now running further than I ever had in my life, and all that did was bring even more energy to step. I think I ran that last mile faster than any of the previous 17, though I admit part of that was because at that point I just wanted the run to be over.

When I got home, my family was sitting on the porch, playing. When I saw them I threw my hands up in victory and they cheered for me like I was at the finishing line of the marathon. And then I remembered another Peter K strategy: create a vision and literally picture it in your mind. At that moment I saw myself crossing the finish line of the marathon in November. I pictured the sounds of people cheering, the feeling of my own legs (or what will be left of them by then), the euphoria of accomplishing such an enormous task one step at a time.

So, I completed my 18 mile training run yesterday, using a fair number of Peter K’s bazillion strategies, 3 shirts, 2 Gus, and about 4 bottles of water in order to get it done. And how did that work out for me? I’d say so far, so good :-).