Long Slow Distance

Some days running just seems daunting. That's how this Saturday was to me. I was in a bad mood in the morning and the last thing I wanted to do was go for a ten-mile run. Also, Bill was nursing a foot injury, so I would have had to do it by myself. Normally, I wouldn't have minded, but I just did not want to even do one mile.

Bill made me a deal...he would RICE all day and try at least part of the run tomorrow with me. The only bad part was that Saturday was sunny and Sunday was supposed to be gloomy. I also pretty much hate putting my long run off until Sunday, but at the same time, I have learned it is so not good for me to run when I don't feel like it.

Besides, I have been trying very hard to follow Coach Ramon's advice:

"Run only if the run you are about to conquer has meaning and satisfies both your body and mind. stay away from senseless runs, they only damage your confidence and your body."

So, I took it easy on Saturday and on Sunday I actually felt like running!

I was a little nervous since it was my longest run of the year so far. I was also a little nervous because I was trying out some new equipment (my Amphipod handheld bottle) and a new Gu (Pineapple Roctane). But I decided to suck it up.

The plan was a full loop of the park (6 miles) and a middle loop. I wanted to start out at about 10 minute miles and end up with 9:30s-9:40s, averaging a 9:50ish pace. Just some nice, long, slow, distance.

Well, I totally forgot the Colon Cancer 15k was going on, so Bill and I just joined the runners for our first loop, knowing we would lose them at the top of the park when they broke off.

I have a love/hate relationship with doing races when I'm not racing. Obviously it is crowded, which makes it a little harder to find space. But it is also very distracting (in a nice way). There is no pressure to get a good time, so I kind of settle into the rhythm of the race and go with it. This whole thing is pretty funny to me because I am a very high-strung anal-retentive person at other times in my life...but when I'm not going for a PR I tend to be very Zen about running. (This is also something I am trying to do ALL the time in running).

Bill, on the other hand, has a different mindset during the whole doing-races-while-not-racing thing. He turns on his competitive edge (almost like he IS racing). Sometimes it takes the Zen mindset right away from me (Note: Bill and I are exact opposites...so it makes sense that we would be opposites here too. Yes, we drive each other crazy, but I think we would drive each other crazy more if we were exactly the same. So I know it sounds like I am giving Bill a hard time/the most awful person in the world, but its not true.) :)

I have to keep verbally reminding him that "we do have 9 more of these you know." And physically reminding him by just slowing down the pace, and then he eventually realizes that he isn't running with me anymore.

I knew this would all be over at 102nd street though (where I was pretty sure the race would break off as we continued north) so I wasn't tooooo worried. We were consistently taking about 15 seconds off of each mile, starting with a 9:42 (whoops), so I was going to try and pace a little better. I knew Harlem Hill was coming up, so I wouldn't have to worry long.

Harlem Hill has been my breaking point all season thus far, so I set out to exorcise my demons this time. That meant NO stopping! It's rough, because as soon as you hit the top of the park you can feel it in your legs, and that's just the BEGINNING of the incline.

Luckily though, I muddled through. I think I was the one driving Bill crazy now. I was very much trying to stay in the zone, listening to my breathing, my footfalls, concentrating on my body...but Bill kept encouraging me to try and talk. He just wanted to make sure that I wasn't overexerting. But I was trying to concentrate and kept giving him short "yes!" answers. Then he would prompt me, asking if I could say more than one word. Finally I said "Absolutely, I can say more than one word. I am just TRYING very HARD to CONCENTRATE."

The hill was tough, but I managed a 10:00 pace for that mile. I was very happy for that because I have learned that no matter what, Harlem Hill adds 40 seconds onto my pace time. No fail. Every single time.
So I had to be pretty happy with that.

I actually felt very very good during the first 6 miles...the next loop seemed very doable in my head.

And it was...

Except for the fact that my pace was way off. I was hitting 10:18s and thinking "This can't be right...I feel more like we are doing 9:40s." The next one I did pick up to a 9:42, which made me feel better. But then I was back to 10:00. ARGH.

Bill told me he felt great and could pick it up, but I just couldn't. I needed to stay in my pace, even if it was 10:00 miles. Luckily Bill is a nice and understanding partner and we finished it together (with a 1:38/9:50 pace).

I felt quite accomplished.

This was the first long run I did this season without stopping to walk AND the most mileage I've done so far this year. I just kept thinking that adding 3 miles on for the half marathon in a month is totally and completely doable.

My goal for this week is to work on negative splitting my runs. I think I do much better when I do that. But I think I needed to run an entire long run without walking before I could worry about that.

Sometimes I feel like I am learning to be a distance runner all over again. :)