22.5 miles: Natchez Trace Parkway and Status

Yesterday I ran 22.5 miles. I ran from home to the Natchez Trace Parkway (about 8 miles) and then ran south on that road for the next 14.5 miles. This was a very hilly run, especially compared to my normal flat loops. I took in about 2.5 liters of water, 4 Hammer gels, 1 Hammer energy bar and 2 Perpetuem Solids. The temperature was in the upper 70s and it was rather humid.

My pace was much slower than my last twenty miler but I was also carrying about 3.5 liters of water (7.7 pounds), there were more hills, and I wasn't sure how far I would be running. This doesn't bother me as it was a hard workout and the point was the hills not the speed. I lost about 9.5 pounds during this workout, so I know it was one heck of a workout.

The plan was to run to the Trace and call my wife for a pick up at mile 20. The problem was there was no cell coverage at mile 20 and so I just kept going until I could text her. After she was on her way I kept running until I found a good stopping spot at mile 22.5.

Running review/preview:

This is a chart of my 30 day moving actual average milage total and my projected total.  You can see I was restarting from zero. I was sick and then hurt my toe this spring and was starting from very little of a base.  Ramping up from 0 to 200 miles in two months is something someone just getting into running should not do, it has been fine for me since I have a longer base of running and have run that much before.

Now that I am at about 200 miles run in the last 30 days I'll be working more on speed since I am done adding miles. You can see I will taper a bit for each marathon as my mileage drops right before hand with the biggest drop before the Philly marathon.