Letter from the coach

I was emailing Mary about my race plan. It's good to have a time goal but I will not (I promise) obsess about it. If the weather is great, if my stomach cooperates, if there is no bike issue, if I don't cramp, if .... lots of if's. I do want to finish under 15 hours. Below is what Mary sent me last week.

The time is finally here.  You started this odyssey many months ago.  At that time, you were not sure if you were ready to take on the challenge.  Ironman was this pie in the sky goal that was intimidating. Now, you have done all the training.  You had surprisingly few bad days and even fewer missed workouts.  You handled the long hours and long distances well.  Your perspective on Ironman training has gone from intimidating to “no problem.”  And everyone tells you that the training is the hard part.  The race is the icing on the big fat cake.  They are right.  But you are still going to take the race seriously.  Here are some of my thoughts for you:

The swim:  it will be crowded.  At your pace (1:15-1:30) you will likely be in a crowd for the entire swim.  Be comfortable with that.  As you enter the water you will be very hyped up by the crowd, the pre-race music, the excitement of your fellow competitors.  You will probably not be able to avoid going out very fast.  That is okay; get rid of the early morning adrenaline.  After a few minutes you will need to rein yourself in and settle into your race pace.  It is going to be a long day, so be smart.  Keep your effort strong, but stay aerobic.

T1:  Transitions can be a good place to make up some time.  No need to dilly dally.  Grab your stuff, get into the tent, and get what you need.  Don’t rush to the point of missing something you need, but be quick and methodical.

The bike:  (6:30-7:00) Here is where you are going to shine.  You have put in many, many strong miles on the bike.  Your ride can make or break your day.  Be smart.  As you start, and as you ride the first 20+ miles you may be passed by some hammerheads.  Let them go.  Listen to your body.  Check your heart rate.  Check your breathing.  Are you going too fast?  Are you taking it too easy?  Make the adjustments that you need.  As you approach the first big hill, focus on maintaining a good cadence.  You may be half way up the hill before you realize it is the big one.  You have done bigger and longer in training.  The hardest part of the ride is the middle; not because of the difficulty of the elevation, but because your mind may start to wander.  If you fine this happening, go through a check list; see if you have consumed enough calories, check your heart rate, etc.

T2:  Again, don’t even sit down if you don’t need to.  Make sure you have the essentials and hit the road.

The run:  (5:00-6:00) It all comes down to the run.  Don’t worry; you will not be tempted to go out too fast.  Also don’t worry if your legs feel terrible.  They will recover in the first few miles.  Start with short, quick steps and keep your heart rate low.  Soon your legs will loosen up and you can stretch out your stride some.  There will be rolling hills along the lake.  If you need to walk the hills, do it.  If not, don’t push too hard on them.  Once you hit the turnaround and get your special needs stuff you will know that you are going to make it.  It is just a matter of pacing yourself to the end.

All day:   

1. Typically it is not humid in Penticton, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get sweaty.  Stay on your usual schedule of hydration.  Start early and keep drinking regularly. 

2. There will be many, many people faster than you.  Ignore them.  Some of them are truly rock stars and you will never see them again once they pass you.  Some of them are egotistical hammerheads and you will pass them again at some point in the day.  It doesn’t matter.  Run your race, not theirs.  Stick to your plan and you will do very well.   

3.  At some point (or many points) in the day you will feel bad.  Be ready for this.  What are you going to tell yourself when this happens?  You can remind yourself of all the hours you put into training.  You can think about your honored heroes of past TNT seasons, you can be inspired by your training buddies and their perseverance.  Be prepared.  Ironman is a long day and there will be some very long stretches where you may not feel the greatest.   

4. Most of all: Have fun!  This is the most important thing I can tell you.  Enjoy the moment.  Whether this is your one and only Ironman or the first of many, your first Ironman is your most special one.  Soak in the atmosphere, encourage other athletes, smile all day.  And at the end you will know the exhilaration of hearing the announcer say:  “Monika Nelwan, you are and Ironman!”

I was a little sad this morning. I found out my friend, Bill, who was supposed to race IM Canada had to pull out due to work. He's a big wig in AT&T and he had an RFP, for the cruise line business that is apparently a big part of the business, due in a few weeks and they are trying to wrap it up. My plan was going to line up with him at the swim start. It's comforting to stand besides somebody that you know waiting for the horn to go off. I didn't care if I could only swim with him for 25 meters. The hardest part is the wait. 

His advice to me was to be far from the buoys at the start. It's okay to swim further but I have more space than getting tangled with other athletes.

The Countdown Begins!

When I go on a trip, I always pack at the last minute. One or two days before gave me plenty of time to pack. This rule didn't apply to the Ironman trip. Even though I won't fly out until Wednesday morning, I had to ship the bike a week prior. I also signed up to transport a bike bag for $30. It's worth it. Sarah made a great suggestion. She said not to put anything that I can't afford to lose in that bag. I need to carry them in the carry on. I started making a list of things that I need to bring with me. It's a lot... the list keeps growing and growing. On Sunday, Elishia volunteered to come over to help.. Oh wait, actually I asked her to come over and help. I bribed her with Thai food take out :) I was a little stressed out... A few problems at the office added to my Ironman stress. I ran a couple of errands at the last minute. Finally I packed the bag that I needed to drop off with my bike.

Tribike Transport Bag

On Wednesday, I went to Cadence Bikes to drop off my bike and the bag. I met Cecil, he's 63 years young. IM Canada is going to be his 14th IM. He did IM Canada 5 years ago. He didn't have anything bad to say about the race. I also met another racer. She walked in with her bike. It was a burnt orange Felt, an older model. I said to her that I almost bought a bike like that from Craig's List. She said, that was where she bought it from two years ago. Funny, it was actually the same exact bike. It was the same size. I remember the bike had upgraded wheels. Everything happened for a reason. My hesitation was that bike had an aluminum frame, and I wanted carbon. I was glad I made that decision. Carbon was a lot more comfortable.

Bye Bye Bike and Bag! Arrive safely and timely in Penticton.

We had brunch on Sunday.

Look at how many plates Eric and Sarah cleaned up!

I've never seen Susan smiled this big.

After brunch, I went home and did more packing. This time is the carry on.

 

Irreplaceable Stuff in the Carry-on Bag

Yes... you see two Garmin's. I borrowed Elishia's Garmin. The battery life is not long enough unless I finish the race in 8 hours.

14 Days to Go

Thursday was the first day I ran again. At first, I wore the ankle support that I got from a drug store but it was too thick on the arch. I couldn't run with it. I felt fine running unsupported for 6 miles. However, I felt I needed more support for Sunday's 10 mile run, so I turned to the expert, Mary, my coach who's also a PT.

Are you sure I can run in this thing?

She used pre-tape, white sport tape and Leukotape that was really sticky. If you saw my foot, it looked like I had a cast on. It was taped up to mid-calf.

The next day we rode 45 miles. The tapes didn't bother me but after 20 miles, I felt the tape kept rubbing the back of heel and it created a hot spot. We stopped at a gas station and I was looking to borrow scissors but they didn't have any, so I bought a pair. I cut off the back side and it felt much better. I carried the scissors in my bento box. It was probably not the greatest idea. If I fall forward, they can seriously hurt me.

We got back to the car, did a 15 minute run and posed for a picture. This is the last ride before we ship the bikes to Penticton, Canada.

Lots of updates

There were so many things happened since the last post. I just didn't have the time to update my blog. After the last recovery week, we had a 100 mile ride and 17 mile run. It was a dilemma for me as far as where to ride that weekend. Cartersville suddenly became a dog heaven ride. It seems like a lot of people were tired of cyclists and started letting their dogs out more. Peachtree City was too far and I wasn't familiar with the routes at all. Silksheets.. hmmm really again? I started getting tired of the routes and hills. At the last minutes, I decided to go to Silksheets. Stephanie was riding 60 miles, she was then in tapering mode. I would ride the rest of the 40 miles by myself.  The first 50 were fine. The next 10 were harder. I didn't feel as fresh as before. The last 40 miles were haaarrddd. I started to get annoyed with my legs. They were heavy even though I used small gears and tried to keep my cadence up. Finally, I got back to the parking lot. I was one of the last 3 cars left. It was around 2PM. Hot and humid. I put my running shoes on and started running. The first 15 minutes were good, and suddenly I bonked. I could tell the difference between bonking and just tired. I didn't have any gels with me, only water. I ran back to the parking lot. It sucked. I was by myself. I drank my recovery drink in the shade. Salty sweat dripped on my face. I was pooped. This was what IM training all about. Mentally I was depleted. At the same time, I was scared. What if this happened on the race day? I drove home, ate, hydrated, stretched, rolled and slept. Tomorrow was a brand new day. I had to run 15 miles. It was okay. actually much better than I expected. The first 100 yards my calves were tight but they loosen up quick.

The following weekend was the last long ride, the mac daddy of the season, the longest miles I covered before the race day. 110 miles plus 30 minutes T-run. This time around I was back with my usual suspects, Eric, Sarah and Susan. Patti also joined us. She was training for IM Louisville. We decided to go to Jackson County Brevet ride. We did the organized century ride in June. The routes were easy to follow. It was very well marked.

J is the marking. Turn to the direction where J is pointing.

If you were wondering, why it was J, it was for Jesus. The organizer was a Christian. He lead the prayer before we started the century ride. Very cool.

Around Mile 30

Ellen sagged this ride. Around mile 30, Sarah, Susan and Patti decided to take a SAG stop. Eric and I continued riding. Before we got to this stop, we were chased by a packed of dogs. They were tiny dogs only one that looked seriously wanted to chase you. We were yelling at them and Sarah squirted Gatorade at him. They didn't come close. Eric and I rode around 20 miles or so after splitting with the group. We were chased by another dog again. I was screaming to scare him away. He stopped chasing. After that, there were a couple other times, I was chased and I didn't even see the dogs. I could hear their bark and nails scratching the pavement. It was a hot and humid day. The high was 95F. With the humidity, it felt like 100+. So, I bet it took the dogs a lot of energy to run, therefore the chase was short lived.

First stop of the day

Around mile 40, Eric and I stopped for bottle exchange. Susan, Sarah and Patti were right behind us. Since we had to add 10 miles, when we got to mile 63, we would turn around and ride back to mile 58 and followed the route again.

Patti and me after the third SAG stop

We had another SAG stop around mile 73. I felt pretty good even though it was getting really hot. We made another quick stop around mile 90. The last 15 miles or so, we were back in town. that meant riding with traffic. I got stopped by traffic light 3 times. I couldn't catch up with Patti who was ahead. It felt great to be done with the ride, now it was time to run. I couldn't skip this since I messed up last week. I sucked another gel and started running. I ran along the tree lines were, so I could run in the shade. It was a 2 and 1/2 minute loop. Boring but shaded. I was so glad that the longest ride was over.

Sadly the following day, my long run didn't go well. I had 14 mile run. Around mile 5.5, I stepped on a small rock and twisted my left ankle. It hurt so bad. I walked a bit and was able to run back to the parking lot. I had to end my run after 10 miles. I had to ice it right away. I cried a bit out of frustration and , I think, mental exhaustion too.  It was going so well and now this happened.

I iced my foot 7 times that day and kept icing it as often as I could. I swam with buoys, so I didn't need to kick. I pushed off with my right foot only. I skipped Tuesday and Thursday bike and run sessions. I tried not to get frustrated. It's not Ironman training without running into a snag. I read about ankle sprains. I bought a balance board to rehab my ankle. Considering this was not the first time, I twisted my ankle this season. I had to take this seriously and fix the problem. I found out that the cause was not weak ankle muscles but it
lacked of proprioception, which was the ability of your body to provide feedback from the ankle to the brain. After an ankle sprain, the proprioception of the joint can be damaged, leading to problems controlling ankle movements. The balance board can help 're-train' the ankle joint. The board was a simple round board with a small half shaped ball in the middle. The idea was when you stepped on it, you had to train your brain to balance your body. The first exercise was two feet, moved back and forth, side to side and circled. the second exercise was to simply balance on one foot. Lastly, do the second exercise with closed eyes. It sounded simple but not really. I could tell my balance improved a lot after 3-4 days doing it.

Balance Board

The following weekend I rode 4 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on the trainer on Sunday while watching the Olympics women's marathon. I was thankful that I could still ride. The swelling was gone. I just didn't feel to run yet. I would wait until Thursday to run.

Georgia Games Open Water Swim

This week was the last recovery week before we did two other long 100/ 110 mile rides and 17/19 mile runs again in the next two weeks. The word recovery was a little deceiving, we still had 65 mile ride and 10 mile run on the weekend. I did have one weight session instead of two. I got a day off, instead of another swim. Woohoo! The timing was perfect too since I was in training at work, so the busy week at the office made up for the hours spent less in the gym. I took a day off on Friday to ride 65 miles. The weather wasn't as hot as the prior two weeks but it was very humid. After the ride, I was planning to check my work emails, but I was so tired. I took a shower, ate and slept. Funny that I felt I was more tired during recovery week when I worked out less.

The next morning was the Georgia Games open water swim at Lake Acworth. I signed up for the 3K distance, 1.9 miles. I was debating whether I should sign up for the 1K also. I heard that the distance was actually much longer than 1.9 miles last year. I believe that after I checked last year's swim results for some of the people that I knew. I emailed the race director if the markers were going to be placed in the same places as last year. In another word, was the 3K really 1.9 miles? She said the buoys were going to be at the same place at last year. I was game for the 3K swim only.

I carpooled with Karen and Regina. We met up at Cracker Barrel at I75 North. Once we were in Acworth, I recognized the streets, I ran there for my first sprint triathlon in 2008. The swim wasn't at the same place, but I bet it was really close. We registered around 9:15AM. Mike, Karen's coach, just got done swimming the 5K. I heard that the 5K distance was a little short. At the race briefing, I found out that there were only 4 yellow buoys on the course. I could see all of them from the start. It didn't look too bad. I did a really quick warm up for a couple of minutes.

We started at 10AM. The start was pretty peaceful. I touched somebody's feet once or twice and that was it. No body contact after that. Even though the first buoy was far but it was easy to sight. I breathed bilaterally and sighted every 10 strokes or so. The second buoy was a little hard to see after the first turn. Actually I didn't see it at all. I was just sighting at the kayak. After a while, I could see not only the second but also the third buoys. Going to the second buoy, I saw a few people in front of me and around me, but it felt very lonely. I swam by myself. It didn't bother me even though it was better if I saw people. The water was pretty warm, low to mid 80's. I wore my speed skin. I liked it being more covered.

When I got to the third buoy, I was pretty close to the bridge. I could see cars when I was breathing on my left. The sun came out and suddenly, it was too bright and I didn't wear tinted goggles. After a while, I was bored, I wasn't tired but just bored. I started thinking about the distance. 1.9 miles. It took less than 10 minutes to ride it and less than 20 minutes to run it. Why did it take so long to swim it? It was ridiculous. As I swimming to the last buoy, I noticed every time I lifted up my head to sight, I felt unpleasant feeling on the back of my neck, by the hairline. Shoot! I didn't put body glide there.

I was happy to circle the last buoy but swimming back to the start (or finish) was a little tricky because there was no big buoy or finish chute. Plus I was swimming along the land and I couldn't see the start. There were some orange buoys at the start, so those were what I used to sight. I breast stroked several times because I felt I was closer to the finish but still I couldn't see it. Finally I saw the finish and swam until my hand touched the bottom. I looked at my watch, 1:02. It was a good time, I thought.

Overall it was a good swim. I didn't feel tired. I could really go the full IM distance which was 2.4 miles. I accomplished my goal, which was to know how it felt swimming continuously. It felt strong. I'm ready!

Another long training weekend

We have another big training this weekend. Century ride on Saturday and 19 mile run on Sunday. The weekday stuff was pretty much the same. The only different was the swim, it was longer. Monday was 4000 yards and Friday was 4200 yards. Friday's mainset was 6 X 500 with 30 second rest. That's a lot of swimming, plus I had to time myself. I didn't normally wear a watch but since I had to time it, I started looking for my watch. I couldn't find it. It drove me crazy when I misplaced something. Finally I found it in the bathroom's drawer that I already looked twice before. I didn't understand why I didn't see it there the first two times.

This IM training started to get to me. I was tired not all the time but almost all the time. I went to bed at 8PM like a 7 year old in order to get up at 4:30AM and start working out at 5:30AM. Weekdays were relatively easy. I worked out for 1.5 to 2 hours. Piece of cake. Weekends were a different story. After I got home on Friday, I started getting the biking stuff ready, made sure I had everything packed. I mixed my bottles and put them in the fridge. I laid out my bike jersey, shorts, arm sleeves, calf compression and socks. I put shorts and shirt to change after the ride in another bag and packed post ride recovery food and drink. This Saturday I had to get up at 4AM because I was meeting with Karen, Lauren and Beth for 6:30AM start time. They are training for IM Louisville which is on the same day as IM Canada. I don't envy their race because it could be hot and humid, plus no offense, it's Louisville, not as pretty as Penticton, British Columbia. But I was jealous of one thing. Mike Reilley, the voice of Ironman, will be in Louisville. I wanted to hear him say "Monika Nelwan, you're an Ironman..." when I crossed the finish, but he probably butchered my name anyway, so did it really matter? I decided to join them because my usual training partners were going to start at 7:15AM. When the temp was going to climb to 96F, I opted to start as early as possible. The two groups were riding at Silk Sheets, so I was pretty sure I was going to see them.

I got to the park at 6AM. It was still dark and I saw a deer crossing the street a few miles from the park. I got my stuff ready and it started raining... really raining? It wasn't in the forecast, well just 30% chance. Anything less than 50% didn't count but this one did. It rained for 15-20 minutes and stopped. We all had to ride 100 miles. The plan was to ride the 31 mile loop 3 times. The second one, just to add some excitement, was going to ride the loop in reverse, and also since we were still short 7 miles, we needed to add a short stretch on the second loop. The goal for me was to ride steady and stop as little as possible, that was why we hid a cooler for our bottles by the park. That way we could stop really quick and got refilled after each loop.

I started riding slow, maybe a little too slow. After 10 miles, I picked up my pace a bit. I carefully planned my calories, so I wouldn't bonk like the last 80 mile ride at Silk Sheets. I had to finish 2 bottles each loop, plus eat an Apple Pie bonk breaker. If I couldn't finish two bottles, I had to add gels. I saw a deer again crossing a field. That made me nervous. I always remembered about Matt Lauer, the Today's show host, that got into a biking accident because he was trying to avoid a deer. I pretty much rode by myself the whole ride. I rode with Beth and Jim a little bit but that was it. I finished the first loop and saw Katie and Beth a few minutes later. Katie and her husband, Carlos, were kind enough to SAG for us. I didn't think I would need anything but it was nice to see people that I knew. It was for safety reason also.

Deer in Georgia need to be trained like this one

I rode the second loop backward. It was funny that the back to back hills on the second part of the course were now easier. Some stretches that looked flat were harder. I saw a Bambie on the side of the street. It got hit by a car. Sad. When I was riding the 7 mile stretch, I saw Sarah, Eric and Susan. They rode the upper loop twice. I saw Karen on the side of the street stretching. She said she was fine when I asked her if she was okay. I got back to the park at mile 69. It was perfect to ride the third loop to round up the century distance. The temperature was getting hotter. I chatted a bit with Ellen, who was sagging also, Katie and Carlos. I wish I could've stayed with them and forgot about the last loop. In mind, I broke out the last 31 miles by turns. From the park, the first goal was to ride to the Cedar Grove intersection, Rico store, Jim Starr, the Fire house, and the green roof top farm house. It helped mentally. With 15 miles left to go, I felt so excited. My legs were fine. I felt pretty good. Nothing was hurting. I started doing the countdown with 10 miles to go. I got back safely to the park. I was so thankful for a safe and not so painful ride. I felt great, maybe because it was the adrenaline too, that thought I could really ride 12 more miles to get to the race distance. I racked my bike and got a water bottle to take for the 20 minute transition run. I froze the bottle the night before and it was really nice to sip iced water during the run. I poured half of it on my head.

After I was done with the run, I stayed with Katie and Ellen while stretching, hydrating and eating. It was a little cloudy so it wasn't as hot as before. I found out that Karen had a problem with her back and leg. It sounded like a pinched nerve. Susan later came in and just wiped out. Her HR was high and she felt no power on her legs. Richard, who joined us on the second loop, couldn't control his HR. It was a rough day for these guys. I hung around a bit and drove home. I had to get ready for tomorrow's run.

I woke up around 5AM and got ready. I left the house an hour later. I drove to Riverside Park, my usual place to start the run. The GA 400 ride was also on the same day. I would have some companies as I was running on Riverside and Eves. The first 5 miles were pretty easy. Around mile 10, after running on the hills on Eves, suddenly I felt no power on my left leg. It was weird. No cramps or pain. The power just went out. I kept running but I knew I changed my gait since I was dragging my leg a little bit. I stopped and stretched my calf. I didn't know what was wrong. It was so weird. I tried to run again and still had the same problem. I went to an empty parking lot. I laid on my back and stretched my hips and glutes. My logic was the hips and glutes power the legs to run. If there was something that caused this, it would have been this area. It didn't feel extremely tight or painful. Nothing was alarming. I decided to run again. This time it felt much better. After a mile or so, it felt normal again. Whew.

The last 3 miles of the run were hard. I just wanted to be over so bad. The schedule said 3 hours or 19 miles. I couldn't finish 19 miles within 3 hours. I thought I may end up with a quarter mile short by the time I got to my car. Normally I would circle the parking lot a few times to make up the difference but I wasn't planning to do that today. I didn't care. I was over it. Miraculously my Garmin showed exactly 19.0 miles two feet away from my car. I couldn't be more than happier. So ready for the last recovery week next week!

What? Still 3 miles to go?

Hotlanta

I moved to Atlanta in 2006. I had hot humid summer for several years now but nothing was like this weekend. It was a record breaking week for Atlanta and other parts of the country. The high of the day would be 105, with heat index 108 on Saturday. I had 95 mile ride on Saturday and 18 mile run on Sunday. Nice! I started planning my nutrition since Thursday. Mary sent an email to all her coached athletes on Friday. The summary of the email was listen to your body, don't do anything stupid (as far as focusing on the distance and ignoring what your body was telling you), hydrate and hydrate.

Real pic from the zoo. Even the polar bears felt the heat.

I met up with Eric and Sarah at the Sosebee bike park at 7AM. The plan was to ride the 66 mile route and 31 mile route. We were going to take a little shortcut in the beginning so at the end, the total miles were close to 95. My plan for the first loop was to stay conservative and stick with Sarah and Eric. I've been riding with them long enough to know what they were steady cyclists. It may feel a little slow in the beginning but that was fine, especially for a day like this. The first few miles were great. The temperature was perfect. I felt a little breeze. It was crazy to know that it would be 30F warmer 4 hours later. I felt great throughout the ride, didn't push hard, took it easy on hills and drank a lot. The last 5 miles of the ride, Eric dropped his bottle and I continued riding. I got to the park and they weren't behind me. I rode back and found them on the side of the road. Eric had a slow leak. He was changing his rear tire. I sat underneath a tree and felt comfortable. at one point, I thought I could nap there. The tire changing took much longer than anticipated. We decided to put some air in it and rode back to the park, which was just a couple miles away.

After a couple times of trial and error, we found out that the problem was on the tire itself, not the tube. Using a dollar bill or a Powerbar wrapper was his best bet, hoping it was going to be good enough for 31 miles. At this point, it had been over one hour since I stopped. By the time he was done fixing the tire, we would start riding again at 1PM. I checked the temp on my iPhone, 105F by 3PM. I didn't know what to do. Should I call it a day? go home and ride 1.5 hours on the the trainer? It would be stupid to wait and ride 31 miles in this kind of condition. That was assuming we wouldn't have more tire issues.

I called Mary and explained the situation. She said, just call it a day. 65 miles were good enough for today's ride. Go home, hydrate, and get ready for tomorrow's run. Even though it was hard not to finish and felt like a failure a little bit, I knew that was absolutely the right thing to do. I told Eric and Sarah that I was leaving. I didn't ask them what they were going to do. It was their own decision.

I got home and slept for 9+ hours that night. I was shooting for 6AM start time. I got to the Riverside park at 6:15AM. My plan was to run 6 miles on the trail toward Willeo and back to the car, and then run 12 miles on the loop that I created. I had never done it so it was a little bit exciting. From the park, ran to Eves, Scott passing the Centenial High School, then to Nesbit Ferry, turn to Old Alabama, back to the park. For sure it was hilly, but I felt good, just came out of recovery week last week and had a shorter ride yesterday. Canada course was hilly anyway, so I had to get out there and tackle the hills on the training.

I hit Mile 12 at the Shell station on Holcomb Bridge. I refilled my bottle with Coke. I love Coke on the run course. The sugar and caffeine helped. The last few miles were hot and I was the sidewalk with hardly any shades. When I was on the trail again, my Garmin said 17.4 miles. I finished strong for the last .6 mile. I stopped exactly at 18 miles even though I was a half a mile from the car. I did my cool down and walked back to the car. It was a solid run. 18 miles at 9:41 pace.