Who happens to be my best friend.
And the person I admire most of anyone I've ever met.
And, miracle of miracles, my husband of 16+ years.
And, he goes along with most of my crazy ideas, including this running lunacy, and so we got to spend this morning running together. We generally run long runs on Sunday mornings, worshipping together in what I call the Church of the Deserted Trail. It's become my favorite two (or so) hours of the week.
We have a half marathon on January 8, so this is scheduled to be our last LONG long run, although we'll do some sort of 8-9 mile long run next weekend.
Today's run was AWESOME.
11 miles. Total time 2:00:39! 10:58 mm avg pace. WOOHOO!
It is a level pea gravel trail along the river. Super pretty. There is a park with bathrooms and water where we turn around, so that is AWESOME! I stopped for 30-60 seconds once on the way there (to use my inhaler) and once on the way back (to tie a shoe). Other than that, I had a 3-4 min stop at the bathrooms for the obvious.
It was awesome!I was aiming for 11-11:30 mm, as my (McMillan calculator defined) "goal long run pace" is 10:50 - 11:40, but that feels fast to me, so I really aim for the slower end of that. My husband's goal long run pace is more like 10:10 - 11:00, so when we run together, I kinda' feel like I should run on my fast end if I can. I thought I'd do 11:30 for the first half and then bump it up for the second half if I could handle it. I wanted to keep my HR in the 150s (75-80% MHR, which I admit is high by most standards, but seems to be my long run HR), and to keep my cadence high (>88, as close to 90 as possible), but if I could handle more speed within those parameters, I was cool with that.
Stats:
Mile 0.1 -- doesn't count b/c I forgot to push start on the Garmin, but I did run an extra 0.1-0.2 mile at the beginning. We'll count that as a warm up, OK? I couldn't bring myself to turn around until the watch actually said 5.5 miles, so I guess I actually ran more like 11.1 or 11.2, but if it isn't in the watch, it doesn't count, lol.
Mile 1: 11:29, HR 156, cadence 91
Mile 2: 11:35, HR 152, cadence 90
Mile 3: 11:36, HR 155, cadence 88
Mile 4: 11:21, HR 155, cadence 87 * ate my Clif gel in here. Mmm. 2nd time I've used them. Seems to give me an energy boost in my legs.
Mile 5: 11: 21, HR 158, cadence 89
Mile 6: 11:06, HR 164, cadence 87 * this is the turn around mile. There is a short hill in there, and then the bathroom break in the middle of the mile.
Mile 7: 11:20, HR 156, cadence 89
Mile 8: 11:08, HR 157, cadence 88
Mile 9: 10:49, HR 160, cadence 87
Mile 10: 9: 40, HR 173, cadence 89
Mile 11: 9:14, HR 179, cadence 93
WOOHOO! It was so fun!
In mile 9, I got my groove on. I felt like I could run forever. I still think it is bizarre that I don't get REALLY warmed up until I've run 8 miles (although I am fairly warmed up after 3). I said to my husband, "I could run a decent 5k if I just ran 8 miles before starting! I might not run it as fast as I would if I started cold, but I'd have a LOT more fun!" He kindly pointed out to me that, "I don't think 5k is your distance." No shit, Sherlock, lol.
(As you probably know already, I suffer through the first 3 miles of nearly every run. My idea of hell would include running three and only three miles frequently. Those first three miles are simply the price I pay for the subsequent many miles of bliss.)
In mile 10, I saw that I was running too fast, and for the first quarter mile I kept trying to dial it back to 10:30-11ish pace, but after a few tries, I just said, "F--- it!" and let 'er rip.
I was working very hard that last mile, but when I realized that if I pushed a bit harder, I could break 11 mm for the whole run, I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to do it, and I didn't want Mile 11 to be slower than Mile 10 (just on principle, lol), so I pushed it.
My husband actually stayed with me to the end instead of taking off ahead (as he generally always does for the last mile), so I was happy that I could keep up with him, and I was happy that I had a "fast run" with him, as it seems like often I am feeling slow when I happen to run with him, and then go out and have a really fast run solo a few days later, and he whines about that, as he likes to run fast and is usually having to take it easier than he'd like when we run together.
My post-long run mellow is going strong, and I feel ready to embrace the houseful of holiday craziness that in imminent.
Oh, and, since this week I did my long run on Saturday, but last week it was my normal Sunday, well, then TECHNICALLY, I've run 34.5 miles in the last 7 days Sunday-Saturday! That is definitely my runningest week to date! Of course, last week's Sunday run (9 miles) really shouldn't be in this weeks mileage, so insofaras my legs are concerned, it is a more reasonable (for me) 25.5 miles, which is a level I've been around for a couple months, so it's not like I am an overuse-injury-waiting-to-happen, but, still, it is a bit of a thrill to have such a running-y calendar week!
WOOHOO! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
