ANATOMY OF A 20-MILER

Anyone who has run a marathon knows that if you are going to have a "level of success" on raceday you have to have at least one 20 mile training run.

In my mind, here at the two main objectives of a 20-miler (in order):
1) Give you confidence mentally and put you in the right state of mind come raceday
2) Prepare your body for raceday

Now, these training runs can take anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on what your goal time is for the marathon. Imagine running with no crowd support, no traffic control, no one passing at gatorade, no nothing for 20 miles. Sounds like fun? It can be ... trust me!

Here's what my recent 20-miler looked like:

Wake-Up: 5:15 a.m. (still dark)
Eat, Stretch, Dress: till 5:45 a.m.
Start Moving the Feet: 5:45 a.m.
Water Fountain, PowerBar Chew Pack for Energy: 6:35 a.m.
Begin big 2-mile hill climb: 7:10 a.m.
Finish hill climb with LOTS of confidence: 7:30 a.m.
Water Fountain, PowerBar Chew Pack for Energy: 7:35 a.m.
Start Rose Bowl loop: 7:40 a.m.
Water Fountain, PowerBar Chew Pack: 8:15 a.m.
Final hill climb: 8:20 a.m.
Enjoy final down hill miles and finish: 8:35 a.m.

This is the fourth time I have gone on a 20 mile training run. The first three were not so good. Well, that's an understatement. They were fairly ugly. This one was about a beautiful as it could have been on so many levels and I needed it big time.

So now that I have a good 20 mile run under my belt, what about those last 6.2 miles. Well, that could get ugly but I have the confidence to run a marathon that certainly wasn't there during my first attempt. That, and the first attempt didn't exactly give me tons of confidence either. Confidence and the mental state-of-mind that will successfully get me to the finish line.

Big Sur Marathon ... 18 days and counting!