Last week was a disaster. After my first long run fiasco on Tuesday, I had a much worse. It was the Saturday long run. It was supposed to be 8 miles easy + 10 miles at marathon pace. Intimidating, yes. But I was OK after the 8 miles, and I set out at the normal 6:40-6:50 pace. After not quite 3 miles at that pace, I got very bad side stitches, and the run was effectively over. A 7-mile death march. I tried to speed up maybe once or twice after that, but it was hopeless. I had to stop or slow to a walk many times in the last 3 miles and my side stitches only changed between "quite painful" and "extremely painful".

I haven't experienced anything like this for years. Dehydration? I did lose 4-5 pounds, which is 3-4% of my body weight, but that's not extreme, I'm sure it happened to me before. I did not feel thirsty when the pain came. (Gebrselassie lost 9.8% of his body weight during his marathon World record). It wasn't even that hot (80-85F). On top of everything, I felt just fine minutes (or actually seconds) before I blew up.

Both Pfitzinger and Daniels say that marathon paced runs are mostly of psychological benefit: practising your marathon pace and increasing your confidence. It doesn't seem to work for me...

No chance for redemption this week. It is a recovery week with no real workouts or even long runs. Longest is 15 miles.