Whoo-hoo!
Last Saturday was my LAST long run before the marathon. Now it's onto the taper!
This run was at one of my favorite places to run: Hartsdale. Since I had gotten my 20 in I decided to do 18 for this one. I think marathon training is more of an art than a science...too many things factor into training to just go by the book. I am in good shape this year but my body has been feeling pretty tired. I have a feeling that not doing 2x 20 this year will be a good thing for me.
Anyway, Hartsdale is beautiful, but it does have a couple of sudden hills. You would think that it would be a boring run because it is 5 miles up and back and then a repeat of the course again, but it is actually so scenic that it is not at all boring.
I don't know what it is about these end-of-the-season long runs, but I always end up doing them by myself...even if I start off with other people. I think this is probably a good thing though, because it allows me to get in the right mental frame of mind for my marathon. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE running with my friends, but when it comes down to marathon day there are just too many things going on in my head and I sort of prefer to run alone.
It was a good run for me.
I averaged a 9:25 pace for the whole time, but it felt really nice and easy (so this was a huge confidence booster). My big wish for the race is that this will be my pace for the first 4-6 or so miles and then I can pick it up from there. Overall, I was very happy.
And you know what I did all day after the run?
I watched TV. ALL DAY. (OK, all day except for the 2 hour nap I took.) This is the first training season that I have actually admitted to myself that it is okay to rest after a long run. Usually I decide to clean the whole house/apartment after long runs, or go shopping, or to a museum, or something else ridiculous. I think for some reason, I used to feel guilty about taking up a whole day of my weekend for running.
Not this year!
This year I am enjoying my rest after long runs, and it is very very awesome. :)
Showing posts with label 18 miles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 18 miles. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Longest Run
This weekend I had my longest run of the season (so far). It was an 18-miler and besides the fact that it rained, it was pretty uneventful.
I was actually really glad for the rain. It was a nice break from the crazy heat/humidity I've been dealing with on my long runs, and it made the park a lot less crowded. I was really aiming to keep my pace around 10 minutes for the first few miles and then drop down to around a 9:30. Instead, I pretty much kept a 9:30 the entire time. I felt really good and like I could actually do a few more miles afterwards, so I think it's pretty key for me to feel like I'm "holding back" in those first few miles.
The one thing that was horrible is that when I got home and got in the shower I had to scream. I didn't even realized that I had chafed so badly. It HURT. I just assumed that I hadn't chafed because I had used Body Glide EVERYWHERE. So now I have matching scars on both clavicles, a really really horrible one under my chest on the left side, a circular one around my navel and one on my inner thigh on the right side. I am using Neosporin like crazy so that the scars don't become permanent fixtures (like some of my other chafing marks.
Oh yeah. And I am also hungry ALL THE TIME now. I just can't get enough to eat. It must be all those calories I'm burning :)
I was actually really glad for the rain. It was a nice break from the crazy heat/humidity I've been dealing with on my long runs, and it made the park a lot less crowded. I was really aiming to keep my pace around 10 minutes for the first few miles and then drop down to around a 9:30. Instead, I pretty much kept a 9:30 the entire time. I felt really good and like I could actually do a few more miles afterwards, so I think it's pretty key for me to feel like I'm "holding back" in those first few miles.
The one thing that was horrible is that when I got home and got in the shower I had to scream. I didn't even realized that I had chafed so badly. It HURT. I just assumed that I hadn't chafed because I had used Body Glide EVERYWHERE. So now I have matching scars on both clavicles, a really really horrible one under my chest on the left side, a circular one around my navel and one on my inner thigh on the right side. I am using Neosporin like crazy so that the scars don't become permanent fixtures (like some of my other chafing marks.
Oh yeah. And I am also hungry ALL THE TIME now. I just can't get enough to eat. It must be all those calories I'm burning :)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Despite Eastern...
OK. So we all know how much I hate running on eastern. So I was not exactly ecstatic when for my 18 mile run this weekend 10 of those miles were on Eastern. Luckily, it was not very hot (since there is basically not a lot of shade). The next 8 miles of the run was around the Lunken Airport bike trail. I don’t know which one is worse!
Despite all of this, I was feeling pretty good when I woke up. I met up with my fellow Chicago group (there are about 5 of us in the group that are running Chicago and we are all around the same pace.) Saturday we were light, because of vacations…there were only 3 of us. Anyway, I felt like we were kind of taking it out a little fast. Especially since I REALLY have to get into a groove on Eastern since it is sooooooo BORING. I was a little worried.
Our first mile was 10:16. Our next was 10:11. This was not boding well because we all try to keep our splits between 10:30 and 11:00.
We got back on track with the next one, with a 10:23. I was starting to feel really great. Our first five we finished at 51:00.
After turning around at Montgomery Inn, I felt super powerful. Maybe it was the disgusting Gu that I gagged down.
I broke away from the group. I knew that I would probably poop out in the last few miles, but I wanted to test it. I figured, maybe I CAN run a 10-10:15 minute mile pace the whole time. No better time to test it in a long run. My splits were getting super fast (for me). 10:00. 9:50!!!
Then they started to drop back. I was back to my normal 10:22s and 10:39s. Even a 10:50.
BUT the slowest split I had was 12:00 (that was my 18th mile). So, I KNOW that I can’t really take all of my mileage at 10:00, because I would die at the end. But I do know that if I’m feeling good, its ok to do a few miles at sub 10:30. That made me feel pretty good about my training!
Despite all of this, I was feeling pretty good when I woke up. I met up with my fellow Chicago group (there are about 5 of us in the group that are running Chicago and we are all around the same pace.) Saturday we were light, because of vacations…there were only 3 of us. Anyway, I felt like we were kind of taking it out a little fast. Especially since I REALLY have to get into a groove on Eastern since it is sooooooo BORING. I was a little worried.
Our first mile was 10:16. Our next was 10:11. This was not boding well because we all try to keep our splits between 10:30 and 11:00.
We got back on track with the next one, with a 10:23. I was starting to feel really great. Our first five we finished at 51:00.
After turning around at Montgomery Inn, I felt super powerful. Maybe it was the disgusting Gu that I gagged down.
I broke away from the group. I knew that I would probably poop out in the last few miles, but I wanted to test it. I figured, maybe I CAN run a 10-10:15 minute mile pace the whole time. No better time to test it in a long run. My splits were getting super fast (for me). 10:00. 9:50!!!
Then they started to drop back. I was back to my normal 10:22s and 10:39s. Even a 10:50.
BUT the slowest split I had was 12:00 (that was my 18th mile). So, I KNOW that I can’t really take all of my mileage at 10:00, because I would die at the end. But I do know that if I’m feeling good, its ok to do a few miles at sub 10:30. That made me feel pretty good about my training!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
