I'm pretty happy with Saturday's 16. My sis has been really worried about having to do the whole marathon, breaks and all in less 7 hours (16 minute miles). She really cranked it up for Saturday's run.
Instead of stopping the Garmin during potty breaks, long stretches, stop-lights, and even a long 5 minute stretch-powerbar eating brake, I just let the Garmin tick off the minutes. This is something I
never did.
We started off with our standard 5 minute walk and then ran the first 3 1/2 miles before settling into our run/walk intervals. We decided to try doing Four/Twos instead of Three/Twos because sis found it really hard to transition so frequently. It worked well! We both actually found that it felt about the same or even a bit easier.
Around the 9th mile, I started feeling a bit stiff and started getting the ITB pain in
both legs. The biofreeze helped quite a bit, but I really felt the pain around mile 12. I switched to Race-Walking. I remember a runner friend in high-school telling me that race-walking is all about the hips. I had still had lots and lots of hip action left so I put it in gear. Sis was slowing down at this point and I found that I could still race-walk at about 14 minute mile--with NO pain. Sis found that slow running was easier than race-walking so I just let her set the pace and I used my hips to keep up with her.
At the end of the run we both felt like we could go on longer--even maybe
a lot longer.
We finished in 4 hours 4 minute...and like I said this included all the stretching, potty, and eating breaks--Just like a real marathon. Sis didn't realize that our walking breaks are pretty slow...like 19 minute miles (when she has her way). She vows to keep that in mind and walk a bit faster next week.
This week is a recovery week, so we'll be doing 12 on Saturday. We are going to do our 5 minute warm-up walk before we start our run and go around 4 or 5 miles before we slide into intervals. Depending on how we feel at that point, we may try doing Five/Twos.
I was only a little sore the next day and today I'm feeling great. I'll post my new ITB strategy next time.