Another long run pb - 2:50 hrs, 11.9 mi, 14:18 pace (Read 575 times)

I just finished my longest run yet, 2:50 h, 11.9 mi @14:18 pace - on a treadmill of all places! I hate treadmills, but finally figured out how to make it work for me on a rainy morning.

 

First I found a treadmill with good air flow from over head fans - important because the gym is about 68 +/- deg. Then I ran a planned conservative negative split run/walk 1:1 min ratio. With first 50 min being 4.1 avg speed, 60 min @4.2 and last 60 min @4.3. Because of the way treadmills are I have to estimate total distance based on estimated average speed which winds up being 11.9 mi in 2:50 h, @4.2 or 14:18 pace. Almost a 1:30 faster than last weeks problem ridden long run! I ran it more smartly than last week, and also found a benefit (finally) of treadmills. I set it for 0.5 incline and started warm up part of run (I include warm up in long runs since being so danged slow it doesn't pay to run a mi or two before starting), I intentionally started with runs @ 5.0 walks @3.5 (dang treadmill made it hard to really focus on pace, so speed governed what I did). When I tried to increase the time @50 min the danged thing said I couldn't and went into cool down, so I restarted and ran the next  60 minutes with runs @5.1 walks @4.6, and the last 60 @5.2-5.3/4.6-4.7. Didn't encounter any major problems. At about 2:00+ my right ham objected when I ran 1:30@5.3 so I dialed it back to 5.2 and restricted runs to 1min. At 2:40 or so the left quad and knee started to think about objecting but then quit. Overall I am pleased with this week. My longest running time and distance at an easy to achieve half pace. I generally am able to run faster in races with the adrenelin and excitement. Just have to keep my base close to 3 hrs and I should be able to have a respectable finish.

nice job!  And that's a long time on a treadmill!  Very impressive!