Sunday Long Run - 21 Miles in the books

My playlist for this run is called "About to taper" because after this long run, the taper begins.  (I have a 12, 14 and 10 miler left.  And then I run a marathon.)

The Good

• Pacing late in the run.  There are hills at the end of this run, including a small one that feels like a mountain.  I ran them, even the one at Portland.
• The Galloway method during the middle (and a bit at the end) of the run.  Helped me calm down my stomach and my panic attacks.
• The route - this was actually kind of fun.  I don't remember thinking that even once on the run.
• iPod resurrection - I used the Nike+ system, which I haven't since my little nano freaked out on me earlier this summer.  I can't use the app on my phone for runs this long becuase I'm slow and my battery doesn't last that many hours.
• Post race nutrition: for breakfast I made what I call "the protein basket". It's 2 eggs; three links of chicken sausage, out of the casing (today I used five links); and 1/2 cup dried lentils, cooked to perfection. Mix it all up and add steak sauce. I will never be hungry again.  (This is also an excellent breakfast for those days I know my schedule is so busy I won't get lunch until 3pm.)

The Bad

• The pacing early in the run. What was I thinking?
• Nike+ is not Endomondo which is why the graph of my run looks like this (this is not what happened at all):

• I tried repeatedly to get the graph to look like it should, showing my running and dying walking paces. While I could preview it, the change in my preferences wouldn't save so I couldn't see the correct full size graph. (I tried this in Firefox, Safari and Chrome, and ultimately dropped Nike+ a line.) Sadly, in my frustration, I may have deleted this run from my account.

• I did get kind of sick. Although not nearly as sick as I normally do. And yeah! for me for having the good sense to stop before getting onto Lake of the Isles which notoriously has no facilities. (This in comparison to the facilities every mile at every other lake in the city.)

The Ugly

• Nuun is from the devil.  Sorry.  I'd read some nice stuff about it and a lot of people really like it and thought I'd give it a try.  My body will suffer without electrolytes from now on. For those of you who haven't used it, it's an electrolyte tab that dissolves in water (much like Alka Seltzer).  The tab makes the water fizzy (carbonated? - chemists, what gas is released when this tablet dissolves in the water?).  Apparently the only time I don't do well with fizzy drinks is long runs.  Who knew?  It was like pouring acid on my stomach; can't believe I didn't get more sick.
  
• Gu Roctane is similarly from the devil.  Typically I do very well with Gu, both the gels and the Chomps.  But as soon as I swallowed my first packet of the Roctane business I knew something was wrong.  I felt a burning in my chest (from swallowing, not breathing).  It was like nothing I've ever experienced.  Well, this sucks. 
• The panic attacks during the run, helped neither by the nutrition nor getting sick. As I recall, the hardest thing about last year's marathon was a panic attack around Lake Nokomis. Pit of despair indeed.

The Stuff I'm Not Sure About:

• I have mixed emotions about this run. Historically my last run long run before the marathon has been horrible and then the marathons go fine. I kind of wanted another bad one (glutton for punishment that I am) so I could keep the superstition alive. This run was mostly okay, except a rough patch in the middle when my body protested the roctane, the nuun, and the pace I'd set early in the run.
• The foam roller experience after the run: we'll see if it helps. Rolling my quads was easily the most painful thing I've experienced lately. And I'm including the actual run.