This was my first 10 miles, a distance I've anticipated since I started running. It's a bit arbitrary, but it has stood out on the horizon as a sort of marker to me, a defining distance. 10 miles feels, finally, respectable. At the same time, the added miles aren't as dramatic as they once were - the mental and physical demands of 10 miles over 9 are less than those of, say, 5 miles over 4, and in ways today's run was downright easy. It was also difficult in places, and painful. Mostly, I think because we hadn't eaten enough earlier and because it's time to start thinking about refueling during our long runs.The day dawned overcast and windy and we allowed ourselves to sleep in until after 9:30 am. Then I picked up coffee and scones and we wrapped ourselves in blankets and wrote for the rest of the morning. We managed to put off the run until nearly 3:30 pm, but finally forced ourselves out into the weather, knowing we would be thankful for it around mile 6. For the first time, I tried carrying a water bottle with me. Based on a friend's suggestion, I found a sports tank with a pocket on the back, similar to many biking shirts, and I was able to fit a small (about 10 oz) water bottle in the zippered pocket. This worked incredibly well for me - it was easily accessible and snug enough not to bounce much. Next week, we'll experiment with some gels as well.
The first 6 miles went easily at an average 10:30 pace - down through the park to the ocean, then out and back a mile and a half along the Great Highway. After that, we turned inland for the more difficult final 4 miles - the climb back up through the park and home. Here we slipped down to an average 11:15 pace, which was closer to what should have been our goal speed anyway, and worked our way back to the relatively flat final mile. This was the first run in a long time where I've felt completely exhausted afterwards, but I still felt like I could have continued on for 3 miles if necessary. We averaged an 11:00 pace, which was far too fast, but our hard workout days isn't until Wednesday, so we have ample time to recover before then.
This week, I'm hoping to return to full mileage - 2 miles Tuesday morning, 45 minutes at tempo speed Wednesday night, 5 miles at goal pace Friday, and 11 or 12 miles next Sunday. A similar schedule the following week, and bring on the half marathon!
5 comments:
Congrats on the 10-miler! You're really getting up there now! Not sure of your neighborhood, but on longer runs I'll sometimes plant water bottles along my routes (an advantage to living in a very rural area I guess). Keep up the great work, you're doing awesome!
Congratulations for getting to 10 miles. That's a significant milestone and I can still remember the first time I got there (it seemed insanely far at the time). You're becoming quite the runner.
Good luck with those water bottles. I can't run with them. Like Jamie, I cache bottles along the route or set up my longer runs so that they loop back to a common point.
Congrats girl! It's really great to hear about your process. The long runs loom large for me--I have so much to train and learn! Reading about yours is a great way of feeling what it may be like. I can't wait to hear about your upcoming 1/2!
damn! way to rock those 10 miles. there is no way i could finish that without gels or more water. but then again i'm much slower :)
you'll be in peak condition for the half!
Hey, congrats on hitting double-digits! Excellent job! It is funny how the diff between 9 and 10 is so much less than from 4 to 5.
I'm finding a lot of problems with not refueling during long runs and have to do something similar to you with respect to carrying water and gels. It's easy on the bike... there are places to put bottles and whatnot!
I prefer GU and Clif Shots over Powergels. Hammershots are pretty good to, I've gotten a lot of those at races. GU is a little thinner than Clif so easier to swallow without a water chaser. Though I'm sure you want to plan on having a chaser anyway.
Anyway, that's my two cents whether you wanted them or not.
The half-marathon is so close now!
Post a Comment