Saturday – January 12, 2013
Besides a little rain today, it was a beautiful day. I went out for an afternoon run at about 4pm, with the temperature at 63 degrees. I had a short sleeve tech shirt and running shorts on, with my new Brooks visor. In mid-January!!! It was a cloudy day, but I wore it in case it rained to keep the rain from hitting me in the face. Few things are more annoying while running. I also wore my Fuel Belt with only two of the four bottles, full of Gatorade, and a Blueberry GU Roctaine (worth the extra $$$ over regular GU). I was only running 10 miles today, and since I ran 7 without any fluids or snacks, I thought this would work. I would be wrong.
I started out a little strong for a long run (for me) with 10:00m/m. Normally, in the past, for runs over 5 or 6 miles I try to stay at 11:00mm or higher. These long, slow runs are supposed to be slow, relative to heart rate. There is a lot of reason for this, so for LSD runs I need to go around 11:00m/m. My second mile was better, 10:21m/m. But then I ran another 10:00m/m and then a 9:24m/m! What the hell was I thinking? For a 3-6 mile run, this is fine. But not for a longer run. But I know the problem.
I was running down a large, busy road for these miles. I was probably sucking in my gut, keeping my chin up, running too fast, trying to look like a good runner. I pictured Craig Alexander’s Kona runs in my head. This is fine for short runs, but I was about to hit the wall. I ran to my turn around point, expecting to see 5.0 miles on my Garmin. NOPE! 4.12! What the hell! "Damn you MapMyRun.com run map creation feature!" Instantly, I was deflated. I just spent too much energy thinking I was running 5 miles, expecting to hit a GU and then charge home, but it was only 4. Pissed because I had to double what I just ran and then add two miles.
I walked as I eat the GU, and finished the last of my Gatorade. This took about 30 seconds and then I ran as slow as possible. After this, all of my miles were over 11:00m/m except the last one (not sure why it was 10:00m/m). But I only wound up running 8.9 miles, in 1:38:49, which is an overall average pace of 11:06m/m, with an average HR of 155bpm (max of 195bpm), burning 881 calories. Garmin Connect says my best pace was 7:17m/m, which I bet was along the busy road as I tried to impress people I don’t know.
I haven’t run farther than 7 miles in over 3 months, so I’m happy with today. The rain stayed away for my run, and the weather was awesome. I felt a small blister starting to form on my foot when I finished, but overall it was a great run. I have only gotten 3 blisters in 1.5 years, somehow. Tomorrow is rest day, but maybe I can get the family to the pool for some laps? We’ll see.
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