You’ll have to excuse the site for the next few days. We are tirelessly trying to work some kinks out and get my redesign up and running. If things look a little off that’s why! I promise it will all get worked out and running normal very soon!
Hi there! I feel like I’ve been holding on for dear life this week and trying not to fall asleep 90% of the time, but that’s the life of marathon training right?
Let’s back up a tiny bit to my Sunday run. As you may remember from my last post, I helped Wes during his 26 mile run on Saturday by biking so only did 8 prior and moved my long run to Sunday.
I was a bit nervous, this is the first non-Saturday long run I have done but I knew this week was important for Wes so I gave it a go. Plus my awesome mother-in-law offered to ride her bike with me on Sunday’s long run. Win!
I didn’t want to get up too early because I was in desperate need of some sleep, but I knew that I didn’t want to be out in the heat of the day. Anyone else beyond ready for fall!? I know, I’ve said that one too many times.
I set my alarm for 7:30 AM but after a restless night of sleep I got out of bed about 7:10 AM and slowly began putting on my running clothes.
After loading the bike in the card and driving several miles up the road to the start, we got to the trail. My mantra the entire way over there and through my run was simply: relax.
I started slow and worked my legs into it. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself because I wanted to have something left at the end. The miles began to tick by and I could slowly feel myself finally getting into the run around miles 6-7.
In the back of my head I was hoping to get to 10 and feel pretty good and progressively work my pace down to finish at goal marathon pace.
When my watch click off at mile 10 I focused on slowly speeding my legs up but didn’t look at my watch. My watch can stress me out, and since it wasn’t a necessity that I hit a certain pace I just let my legs do what they felt.
My watch vibrated at mile 11 and I looked down and was shocked at the pace: 7:29. Oops! I decided then that I would attempt to run the entire final 6 at GMP, or at least somewhat close, but based on feel not on staring at my watch religiously.
The final outcome: 7:29, 7:43, 7:17, 7:48, 7:32, 7:49. It wasn’t right on goal marathon pace, but right around it. A few of those miles had some hills that slowed me down. I averaged an 8:04 pace for the entire 16 miles.
After the craziness of this training cycle, I was really happy with the effort on this one. I really have no idea where this one came from but I sure hope there are more to come!
I’ve never done a fast finish type long run before, but I will tell you they sure take it out of you afterwards! I felt like a zombie for most of the evening!
Monday morning I was exhausted so I cut my mileage back to six and went super slow. It was rainy and gloomy but just what I needed!
Have you ever done a fast finish long run?
What’s the best long run you’ve had?