Notes
Long run out at the Arb and was much needed. Frustrated with training the last few weeks between dealing with some mental barriers and then the tendon issue, just haven't had the quality of training that I've wanted. Tendon finally coming around and feeling better so wanted to try and test myself a bit this morning and think I accomplished just that. Woke up and tendon was stiff but not bad, did some stretching and rolling out before to make sure I was good. Drove to the arb and the goal was to do 2 loops for sure (15-16 miles) with the chance of doing 3 loops if I felt great but didn't really bank on that and only brought 1 gel with me because I assumed I would go two loops. Legs a bit sore in other places from the race but thankfully, albeit a bit stiff, tendon was fine for most of the run. First 5 miles or so went by OK- calves and achilles were tight and were borderline painful but thankfully never got to that level. By the time I hit the west-side loop, legs were feeling a bit better and mentally made the decision that I was going to try and do 3 loops today. Was running 6:20s by mile 5. Started to build a bit on the 2nd loop and had gotten down to 6:00s by mile 11. Took my gel (maurtens, first time using) at mile 12 which was on my way to the west loop. Kept the pedal down and stayed in the 6:00s even with the hills. Slowly dropped down and was in the 5:50s on the third loop and even split a few miles around 5:40. The last 3 were tough- had some big hills and I was deff struggling a bit to get up them but then would get back in rhythm. Finished the third loop and went back to the car for a clean 23.5 at 6:09 pace. Last 13 miles or so were around 6flat with the last 9 miles being around 5:47 pace so really solid cutdown. 1050 feet of incline so probably one of the hilliest long runs I've ever done along with being one of the longest long runs I've ever done. Deff pretty spent by the end but since I took no water and only 1 gel, basically a depletion run.
Really needed this mentally- wanted to just go out and really challenge myself today to do something I hadn't done yet and felt I accomplished that well. Longest long run in years, at a good pace and a good cutdown, with a ton of hills thrown in. Mentally help putting me back to where I need to be.