A Fool and her running - week of April 7

[OakLeaf]

Six for me today. I'm still kinda sore from Monday. Which brings up a question for you experienced marathoners...

I've got one more long run to go before I start my taper. I'm newly back in the hill country, and 1100 feet of climbing in 15 miles was definitely more than my quads were ready for. (But for some reason, I was running a bit quicker than I'd done my flatland long runs, too, not trying to, but wound up with a sub-11 minute pace as opposed to my usual long run training pace of 11:30-11:40. So that might be contributing to the soreness, too... also a few days off due to moving which I'm almost always sore after a layoff.)

So far I've run 20+ six times, the last time being on March 29 when I did 26.3. The last three weeks, I did 18, then no long run because of the Achilles problem, then the hilly 15 on Monday.

So. I really think I ought to get one more 20-miler. The marathon isn't completely flat, but it doesn't have these kinds of hills either. (Which is exactly why I decided not to do Cincinnati Flying Pig or Pittsburgh, either one of which is probably a nicer race to run, but just too dang hilly after doing all my mileage-building in the flatlands.) Do I do my last long run in the hills and try to keep the pace down a little? Or drive to the next town and use the MUP which is almost entirely flat?