I finally did a 20-miler today!!! I was hoping to have done it last Sunday, but I bailed after 8 miles. I regretted it after I got home and I decided that I do it this weekend.

I felt pretty good for the first 15 miles, but then I started to feel the onset of cramping in my left calf which caused me to do a lot of walking. I would run a bit and then as I feel my calf starting to cramp, I would walk so as to prevent it from actually cramping. I need to find a way to deal with this. Others have recommended various electrolytes tablets and I think I will definitely need to get some.

I drank a lot of fluid….a total of 120 ozs of which 64 ozs was Gatorade Endurance. Together with 2 Gu gels, I would have thought that would have provided sufficient electrolytes.

In the end, I ran the 20 miles in 3:51 which is quite an improvement over my last long run of 19 miles 4 weeks ago which took me 3:57.

Now I get to taper for 2 weeks. My plan is about 15-20 miles this week and then 10-15 miles the last week with no running in the 4 days before the marathon.

Now that I’ve burned well over 2,500 calories on my run today, I’m going to enjoy some Buffalo Chickien Wings for lunch!!!

Posted by derek in Chicago, Marathon, Training