Fifteen miles
Today I ran farther than I have in a long time—maybe ever. 15 mi, 2:18:55. That’s 9:15/mi pace, which is great. It was 42° F and a little breezy when Doug and I started at 7:30 am. By three miles, I had shed the light fleece I was wearing. As we hit the 9 mile mark, the wind picked up, but we kept our pace. I feel great; a little stiff but no cramps or other problems. Getting up early enough to have a piece of bread and a cup of coffee really helped.
I spent some time looking at graphs of this week’s runs using the Forerunner software. The image below is part of our Tuesday interval run; the larger image (linked) shows the faster intervals then the slower rest periods.
It’s hard to believe our pace varies that much. But I guess it does.
Next week: 7 x 800m speed work, 8 mi tempo, and a 17 mile long run. If that long run goes well, I’ll start to get serious about actually doing a marathon sometime this winter.
October 9th, 2005 at 10:14 am
I have been inspired and also shamed by reading about your running successes. Good work, dawg.
October 9th, 2005 at 12:46 pm
Are you trying the FIRST training? It’s a cool program, even if you aren’t doing a marathon. Mixing up the pace and type of run I’ve been doing has been nice, and making the extra effort to run on the track is also worth it.
October 9th, 2005 at 10:32 pm
IT WAS SOO COLD SATURDAY MORNING!! I slept in a tent that so i know first hand. I never could have been motivated to get out of a warm bed to go outside esspecially to RUN!! except I was in a cold bed.. outside.. in a tent and it was awful. You have motivated me to go to the rec more. Everytime I sit down to do my homework I am reminded that there are people out there who actually do exercise and I should probably be one of them. Thanks
October 10th, 2005 at 9:15 am
I am proud to be inspirational! But most of the credit goes to partnering. That’s the best thing: get someone to work out with, and you make each other show up and do it. And it’s more fun (and safer) to have a conversation with someone while running than to go it alone.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:08 am
Bradley, honestly, I have fallen off the wagon. I need a running partner, but I am so slow right now. It’s terrible.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:57 am
Go see if you can find a partner at one of these places:
http://www.nvrun.com/
http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/triclub/
But I’d be lying if I said I was able to do ANYTHING my first semester on the job. I was too busy panicking…
October 10th, 2005 at 3:05 pm
I know about these groups, but I’d be too embarrassed to join right now! I’m too out of it. They’d dust me.
October 13th, 2005 at 3:05 pm
Here’s my story: I was back into running for about two weeks. Then, I strained my Achilles’ doing calf raises in the gym. It only bothered me when I ran. So I didn’t run. And I haven’t run in about a month, long after this minor injury healed. Why? Because of laziness, the fact that I walk Speck for an hour each day, that I can’t run with him on a leash because he’s a spastic dummy, and that I can’t rationalize not running after the aformentioned walking. Also, your land was crushed flat by a glacier in time immemorial. Here, there are steep hills. There is no solution.
October 13th, 2005 at 3:31 pm
You’re thinking of different parts of Illinois, my friend. Here between the rivers, we do just fine on hills, thank you.
FWIW, I did nine miles today, and struggled to break 8:30. I have no idea why.
Glad to hear the canine, if nothing else, is constant.