Triple the Long Run, Triple the Fun

57 miles in 3 days. That’s my plan for the weekend. And I’m 2/3 of the way there.

Early in the week, I decided that I’d do double 20’s this weekend since it was my last chance before having to start the taper for the HMRRC Winter Marathon. I was a little worried about putting that much mileage right before ESBRU, but I reminded myself that the stair climb is just for fun. If I run it a little slower because I’m tired, who cares?

Yesterday morning was originally going to just be an 11.5 mile run home from Brooklyn. But then Helen asked me if I’d go for a run in Prospect Park with her first. Of course I said yes. We did a relaxing four miles and then, as I was getting ready to head towards Manhattan, she said, “See you in 31 miles.” I kept a decent pace despite the traffic, finishing 15.3 in just under two hours. It was a quick two hours. My thoughts were bouncing around and there were times I think I actually forgot I was running. It was good. I was loving the weather, which was a sunny 13 degrees with almost no wind. It was chilly right at first, but felt amazing after a mile or so.

And then today, I ran 3 loops of Central Park for the first time ever. It went really well. Antonio and I finished up 20.6 miles (we ran to and from the park too) with an average 7:11/mile pace. The plan was to run much slower since I have another long run tomorrow, but by the last lap, we gave up on trying to slow down and let the pace drop well under 7’s. Our last mile in the park was 6:41 and it didn’t really even feel like we were pushing that hard. Crazy. The weather definitely helped (it was again 13 degrees and sunny), but still that was an amazing time for how little effort it required. I’m really excited about this upcoming marathon. If I get some good weather and am having a good day…

My legs are feeling pretty good now and I’m not overly tired. Tomorrow is going to be a super relaxed jaunt out to New Jersey over the George Washington with Helen. A 21 mile recovery run, if you will. Seems funny writing about a run before it happens, but I’m pretty confident that it will be the perfect end to this, my first ever 80 mile week.

Update 2/1/09: We ended up running 21.3 miles and it was indeed the perfect way to end the week. While over in New Jersey, we made four or five stops for photos, Gatorade, etc., but the 7 mile trips out and back were solid. It was a great mix of running with training in mind and running just for the fun of it.