Notes
Tackled and accomplished an awesome long run this morning :) my longest one in a long time, and it feels great.
Anders got home from his night shift around 7:50am, and we had planned to get out for a run together at about 8. I got up around 7:30 and had just enough time to have a cup of coffee and accomplish a pre-long run poop.
We headed out the neighborhood and up the Cedar Lake Trail towards Hopkins. The first few miles were easy and conversational and went by quickly. AGAIN we had incredible running weather. Wow, I forgot how fun and how perfect it can be to run in September and October.
We did about a 6 mile loop up the Cedar Lake Trail, and then Minnetonka Blvd back to the neighborhood and home. I went inside briefly to grab a swig of water and go to the bathroom, and then I ventured out for 7 more, solo miles. This time I went east on the Greenway towards the lakes, and did a lap on the short side of Cedar. I tried my best to keep the pace in check and just enjoy the weather and happy and healthy running. Last week my long run of 11 miles included 3 miles of quality at the end, and when Anders and I were writing my plan for the next month or so we decided this week would be just a straight long run with no extra quality. I was going to break the hour and a half barrier for the first time in 15 months, and we thought it would be a good idea just to focus on keeping my form and good biomechanics for the run that was bound to challenge them significantly. I think it was a good call. And the plan moving forward includes a long run each week, and quality in about every other long run.
Even without any planned quality, I naturally started to run faster as I felt good, ventured out on my own on a perfect day, and started to feel the finish line with 3-4 miles to go. Miles 11 and 12 were faster than I intended them to be, but I felt good and was just loving being out on a beautiful day on healthy legs. After my 12th mile I stopped for about a minute, in which I grabbed a drink at a drinking fountain and stretched my quads, but the reason I stopped was to hault my forward momentum so I could truly run easy the last mile home and not turn it into a cut-down progression run. After the previous miles, that is where I was headed, and I have other quality sessions planned for next week that I want to sink my teeth into. The 60 second break did exactly what I wanted to, and I ran an easy last mile home. It felt a bit like a cool down effort, which was good and necessary. Overall I think I hit the long run perfectly. It got naturally, progressively faster, but never got out of control, and I never felt like I was intentionally pushing. I finished 13 with tired legs, but knowing I could have pushed much faster than I did. And that's not the same feeling I had finishing 4 miles of quality at the end of my long run last week, so mission accomplished.
oh so incredibly happy to be back in the game :)
Also 50 miles this week, check. Woah baby!
splits:
8:00
7:52
7:53
7:34
7:33
7:41
stopped at home for a few minutes to drop off anders, and intentionally cranked it back just a notch to ensure I still had 7 miles left in my legs.
7:48
7:42
7:36
7:24
7:18
7:05
60 second pause to bring the pace back
7:50