21 days to M-day, Longest LSD, 23 mile!!

Sweet!!, 23 miles in 6h15min (ofcourse I am taking out all the breaks!).

I had been so nervous of this session, our last longest LSD, after this tapering begins and we had no time to do a >20mile LSD even if we wanted.

Woke up at 3.15Am, started from GB's house at 4.04AM, 60*,slight breeze, thank the administration for the well-lit streets (however, wonder why all the storefronts have to be so brightly lit at 4 in the morning, when they are closed, all that wasted electricity, they can have a couple of lighted signs or so, but it seemed like x'mas in the shopping areas)

The first session was 3h20 min, out of which approx 8 min was a water/bathroom break. So we finished 12.1 miles at a 16minmile pace, which I felt was good. We didnt huff and puff too much, talked a lot, did R2/W2 and were comfortable for the most part. Around mile 6, both of us had some foot soreness, some hip tightness, some back pain, but it was mostly OK. Did our big bad hill at mile 7, another at mile 10.

Reached home,took a break of 17min,I did take a ibuprofen tablet just to prevent the soreness from turning into pain.

Started again, same circle but in the opposite direction, this time slightly slower. Took more effort to keep the same pace, took some water breaks, 4 in total, each lasting 3-5min, went down the big bad hill and that seemed tougher today when we were so tired. At mile 20 the sun was up- 9-10Am, 85*, very warm and now we were drinking the gatorade and water every 10 min. The sun actually slowed us quite a bit because we stopped running after the 20th mile.

Reached home -total session was 7 hours. Sometimes I feel I should include that as total time but we were not moving during that time. I know we will be taking those rest breaks during the actual marathon too - we will Have to because those really rejuvenated us till the next rest break, but I just want to feel good about my pace for today.

Things which helped us:
1. we used gatorade and water every 15-20 min, took 2 luna bars, had a slice of bread with PBJ, so were eating regularly this time instead of every 1 hour.
2. Starting so early so we had 3 hours of no-sun time with temps of 60-70*.
3. Using that Ibuprofen after the first session-I dont know if it is the done thing or not, but I am feeling better after this session than most- maybe it is just psychological.
4. R2/W2, this is just right for us. We will use this for the M-day.

I am sure there are more and I will mention them as I remember.

So good job done. The rest of the 3 miles will be completed with the help of crowd cheer and support.

Tapering officially starts from tomorrow. Recovery r/w.