Posts Tagged ‘long run’

Double Digits

Most running blogs are either personal or global, and I’ve bounced back and forth between the two. I’ve now decided I can do both, but I’ll keep them compartmentalized. So from now on weekday content will consist exclusively of funny or odd running stories, while weekend content (nonexistent until now) will consist exclusively of what I’m up to — for the half-dozen or so of you who care.

This was my highest mileage week in ages. I finished with 27.5 miles. Today’s 10 miler was my longest single run since last October. I did it at a 9:20 pace, so it didn’t water my eyes, but it was steady. My best run this week was in the rain – 2.4 miles at 7:45 pace.

I’m up over 83 miles for the month of April, but this will be a step-down week, so I won’t break 100. I’m doing everything I can to avoid injury. It would be nice to run my third marathon after a four-year hiatus. Knock on wood.

Friday Five: Signs You Should Cut Your Long Run Short

1) Buzzards are flying lazy circles overhead.

2) Your salt stains are so thick and white you look like Lot’s wife.

3) After you make the turn for home, you wonder “What’s that lying in the road?” and it’s your tibia.

4) You keep singing the Pata Pata song aloud, even though you don’t understand a single lyric.

5) The plot of “Lost” begins to make sense to you.

You Can Run, But You Can’t Make Your Computer Run

I can joke about it now, because I’m up and “running” again after a series of computer plagues of biblical proportions. I kid you not, in a single week I had a desktop hard drive, a laptop hard drive and a wireless router all independently leave us for a better world. They were all more than five years old, but it has been pretty frantic around here getting schooled in 2009 technology. Not to mention that I’m singlehandedly keeping Best Buy in business.

Fortunately, training is going great. I capped a 43-mile week with a 16-miler at 9:11 pace on Sunday, and this morning my six-mile tempo run finally surpassed my target marathon pace (8:12, for those keeping score at home).

Even better, the Carnival of Running will return tomorrow… unless my cable modem explodes.

Stepping Up After Stepping Down

Last week was a step-down week. I always have trouble judging my performance. Because it’s fewer miles should I run them harder? Or should I take advantage of the lower mileage and take it easy for the trials to come? I end up doing something about halfway in-between.

Anyway, my speedwork was probably the highlight of the week:

Intervals: 8 x 400 meters
Goal pace: sub-1:40
Lap 1: 1:38.76
Lap 2: 1:37.57
Lap 3: 1:35.89
Lap 4: 1:36.75
Lap 5: 1:37.27
Lap 6: 1:36.99
Lap 7: 1:36.79
Lap 8: 1:35.16
Average: 1:36.90
Total distance: 5 miles

Followed that up with five-mile tempo runs on Thursday and Saturday at 8:30 pace, and then a 10-miler yesterday at an average 8:47 pace, with the last three miles in 25 minutes.

Now begins the meat of my training – a 46-mile week culminating in a 16-miler on Sunday. Yee-hah!

OK, I’m a Little Tired Now

I mentioned yesterday that speedwork and long runs should probably not be done back-to-back. No harm done today, but I’ll definitely avoid it in the future.

I did 10 miles today in 1:31 flat, with a significant negative split (47-44), but I’m completely wiped out. I’ll spend the rest of today doing laundry and impersonating a giant lump in the bed.

Redemption

Yesterday through 6 miles – 50:20.

Today through 6 miles – 52:31.

Yesterday, miles 7 and 8 – 19:18.

Today, miles 7 and 8 – 16:26.

I should also mention that yesterday I fueled with a salty bagel and peanut butter, coffee, 24 ounces of diluted Gatorade, and one Power Gel. Today I had coffee and an Entenmann’s chocolate doughnut. No fluids during the run, unless you count all the rain I was breathing in.

Maybe yesterday I should have thought about my pace before running. Sheesh.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Running is funny. What is the one bit of advice I hear over and over again about long runs?

Don’t go out too fast.

What is the one thing I tell myself over and over again after I’ve made that mistake?

Don’t go out too fast.

What did I tell myself right before I started my 12-mile group long run this morning?

Don’t go out too fast.

So what did I do?

I WENT OUT TOO %&#$@* FAST!

I was fat, dumb and happy approaching the first mile marker. You would think the fact that I was way ahead of the pack would have clued me in. Duh. Checked my watch – 8:09.

EIGHT-OH-NINE! Jeez, only about 45 seconds faster than I should have run it.

Well, you know the rest. My splits increased at roughly the same rate as the national debt. I negotiated the nasty hills well enough, and I still had a respectable 50:20 at mile 6, when I picked up a side stitch. Then the walls came tumbling down. I finished with average splits of 8:50, which don’t really indicate how awful I felt.

I’ve even got extra evidence that I shouldn’t go out too fast. My half-marathon PR came in a race where my first mile was 8:46 and my last mile was 7:18.

Well, the great thing about running is there’s always tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ve got an 8-miler to do and only one thing to remember.

Don’t go out too fast.