A definite success.
I was very discouraged when I got up this morning and looked at the weather and saw on my computer the dreaded phrase "100% humidity."
It was not raining. The air was the rain! And it's seventy degrees, which I know is not really that warm, but warmer than is pleasant with mugginess...
But it is all good for pacing and mental toughness. This was much the longest run that I've done so far, and I wanted to take it at a pace that I knew I could sustain for three hours (with the hope of slightly picking up the pace on the third loop, or at any rate holding even splits). It worked out really well.
An easy pace, of course, is not the same thing as saying it's an easy run - there were definitely a couple points where I had sore legs or general feeling of just being ready to be done. The humidity was quite unpleasant, and my socks were disgustingly squelchy by halfway through!
It cannot be said to have been one of those exhilarating and really enjoyable ones, in other words. But it was a good run nonetheless, a very good run. I am very pleased with my pacing now that I can see the numbers!
I finished strong, and though I was very glad to stop, I actually did still feel like I could have run another loop if I had to. I walked through all the water stations from start to finish, to make sure I got a whole cup of water down at each one, and had 3 gels (really I just need to eat a larger breakfast, though). I need to work out a way of getting that much water down without walking - one to ponder...
It's a three-loop course, the hilly Central Park loop, i.e. quite different elevation mile by mile, so I'm organizing splits in three columns. I clicked the lap button at the mile marker rather than using the AutoLap function, so distances and times are accurate (except that clearly I did not mentally register the need to click at the mile marker where you move on to the next loop - it is not that miles 6 and 7 and 12 and 13 were unnaturally evenly paced, just that I had to divide a two-mile total!). Not sure if blog layout will be comprehensible, but it looks like this:
18 miles - 2:58:20 - avg pace 9:54 - avg HR 156
Mile splits with avg HR:
1 10:06 (152) 7 9:42 (154) 13 9:52 (158)
2 10:24 (151) 8 11:04 (151)* 14 11:17 (157)
3 9:46 (150) 9 9:18 (156) 15 9:08 (160)
4 9:49 (153) 10 9:43 (157) 16 9:31 (163)
5 10:17 (153) 11 10:17 (157) 17 9:40 (165)
6 9:42 (154) 12 9:52 (158) 18 8:47 (170)
Loop 1: 1:00:02
Loop 2: 1:00:06
Loop 3: 58:07
* Some sticky Clif Blox chewing led to delay! Hmmm, are you just supposed to swallow those without chewing?!? I was mulling the question over for the following mile as I tried to unglue bits of orange-flavored Blox from my teeth and gums...
18 miles total
This week's mileage: 33
Now I have a recovery week, and then a nice long run again the week after - I can't wait!
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5 comments:
Good!
(Except for the squelchy business, which is not.)
Your numbers present evidence of a very, very solid run. Congratulations.
From the sounds of it, your weather was similar to what I had during my NH race today. But you ran very well regardless. Good job!!
I have never had much problem with clif bloks getting stuck in my teeth (unlike the sports beans or luna moons). I guess rinsing with water has always worked for me! But if anything, pulling stuff out of your teeth breaks up the monotony :-)
18 miles -- nice job!
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