Saturday, April 30, 2005
An Almost Perfect Long Run
I had a really great long run this morning! I got about 5:45 a.m. and had a light breakfast, and drank about a liter of water. I took care of my "morning toilet" as my English coworker likes to say, then streched, grabbed my CamelBak and hit the trail about 6:30. It was a fresh 12C/53F, but I wore my shorter running pants and short sleeves - good thing it was up to 23C/74F by the time I got back.
I started out with a nice comfortable 6:30/K (10:30/M), I didn't feel particularily energetic, but I had no trouble keeping this pace. After about 30 minutes one of the straps that holds a pouch full of sports bars broke on the back of my CamelBak, so I wasted about 4 minutes doing a quick fix. As it turned out this was the only negative part of my entire run (thank the good lord!).
I followed my normal route for about 10K's then turned off and headed over to the next town's running club's trail. There were already a few walkers out doing their thing, this was kind of cool - it's nice seeing other people once in a while - especially when your're running for 3 1/2 hours! I wound around their 11K trail that led throught the woods, then headed out across the fields. The sun was out in full force, it was beautiful. It's asparagus season in our area and the field workers were out picking already. I remember my neighbor telling me once that most of the field workers come from Poland and Rumania - the pay is really low!
After about 2 1/2 hours I headed back over to my normal running trail and followed it in the reverse direction back to the house. I really wasn't so sure how far I had run exactly, so I took an extra loop around the field behind our house before coming in. Total time 3:38:10, I would guess that I ran about 33-34K's/21 miles.
But I feel good, okay as good as you can for having just run 21 miles. I took a 1 minute walking break after the 10K point, then every 7-8 K's after that. I think this helps my legs from cramping up so bad. I drank my 2 liter CamelBak dry while running, plus killed about 3 sports bars. I think I could have run at least another half hour without to much complaining.
All in all I am very satisfied with my last long run. It is definetly good for my confidence level. I realize that the last 10K on my marathon will probably be the hardest thing that I have asked this old body to fight through, but I think these old bones will cooperate. If I can get past the mental thing we'll be just fine. Happy running!!
I started out with a nice comfortable 6:30/K (10:30/M), I didn't feel particularily energetic, but I had no trouble keeping this pace. After about 30 minutes one of the straps that holds a pouch full of sports bars broke on the back of my CamelBak, so I wasted about 4 minutes doing a quick fix. As it turned out this was the only negative part of my entire run (thank the good lord!).
I followed my normal route for about 10K's then turned off and headed over to the next town's running club's trail. There were already a few walkers out doing their thing, this was kind of cool - it's nice seeing other people once in a while - especially when your're running for 3 1/2 hours! I wound around their 11K trail that led throught the woods, then headed out across the fields. The sun was out in full force, it was beautiful. It's asparagus season in our area and the field workers were out picking already. I remember my neighbor telling me once that most of the field workers come from Poland and Rumania - the pay is really low!
After about 2 1/2 hours I headed back over to my normal running trail and followed it in the reverse direction back to the house. I really wasn't so sure how far I had run exactly, so I took an extra loop around the field behind our house before coming in. Total time 3:38:10, I would guess that I ran about 33-34K's/21 miles.
But I feel good, okay as good as you can for having just run 21 miles. I took a 1 minute walking break after the 10K point, then every 7-8 K's after that. I think this helps my legs from cramping up so bad. I drank my 2 liter CamelBak dry while running, plus killed about 3 sports bars. I think I could have run at least another half hour without to much complaining.
All in all I am very satisfied with my last long run. It is definetly good for my confidence level. I realize that the last 10K on my marathon will probably be the hardest thing that I have asked this old body to fight through, but I think these old bones will cooperate. If I can get past the mental thing we'll be just fine. Happy running!!
# posted by Jack : 11:20 AM
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Wow! That sounds like a really good - r e a l l y long run. I can imagine that helps your confidence quite alot! Will that be your longest run before you taper or is there another to come?
And remember -- trail running makes you a stronger road runner, which is always a nice benefit! (not sure if your marathon is trail or roads).
You are going to do so well!
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You are going to do so well!
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