Notes
I don't know what to say about this run. On one hand it sucked on the other hand it was awesome. I planned to run 16 miles this morning and I also planned running 73-74% HRR for the run to give myself a quality aerobic workout with those miles. I've been lollygagging in recovery zone so much lately that my legs aren't used to the speed. This morning I woke up at 6AM and saw that temps were in the mid 50s which made me super happy and excited about the run. I even put on a singlet for the first time in a while to celebrate the cooler weather. My hands were freezing for the first two miles and I was genuinely wishing for some gloves. The start of the run is a pretty brutal 14% grade descend for a little while then the repeat ascent on the other side of the creek (check the elevation profile). It sucks major ass but I got through it and I felt like I was in smooth sailing. I pushed the pace high enough to try to get my HR up to my target zone but it was wicked hard. I was struggling and my splits were OK but nothing phenomenal. I logged a 6:37 and I felt OK then I had to climb two set of stairs at overpasses and railroad bridges where I ended up running an abysmal 7:25 and I felt like I was done. Then I ended up at mile 8 marker right above the Danube river so I thought I'd run another half a mile so at least I get to run on Margaret Islad for a bit. I was at 59:38 at the turnaround and I thought I just ran 8.5 miles based on my footpod measurement. Little did I know...
On the way back as soon as I hit the bridge I knew I had a different kind of run that I had to take care of. stopped at a gas station only to find it closed and finally managed to take care of business at the local swimming pool where I just stormed in, hit the stall in the toilet and promptly exited. I felt relieved and I managed to pick up the pace once again but my legs felt generally fatigued and I had a harder and harder time to keep the effort at 73% HRR. At mile 10 I was contemplating calling it quits as my legs felt like they were done. I kept thinking that next Saturday I'm supposed to run this and then another 7 miles at marathon effort afterward. I felt like there was no effin' way I could do that.
I kept trying to push the pace but my HR was low and my legs felt like they wre falling off. At 4 miles to go I decided to screw this run and I would just jog it in. At 2 miles left I stopped for water at a park as I wasn't sure if I could last for another 14-15 minutes that's how beat up I felt at this point and temps were up to almost 70 by now. My pace was in shambles and I was concerned whether I could finish the run as I knew I had another 14% grade climb still left to go. I finally got home, my monitor said 16.96 miles and 7:07/mile average pace. It was depressing to see those numbers and feeling like I felt which was "I'm so done with running!".
Once I uploaded the GPS data from my watch it all made sense. My footpod calibration was off and I actually ran 18 miles at 6:49/mile average pace and ran the first 13 miles at 6:37/mile average pace! No wonder it felt hard and i felt like shit for the last 5 miles. So it was a feeling like crap run but it was an incredibly strong quality run which I'm happy with. The only other notable thing is that I ran a 19 mile run on this exact same route two years ago and my average pace was 8:08/mile for essentially the same HR.