long run

I was set to run with the group yesterday, for 20 miles on the bike path. I just wasn’t feeling it, so I decided to call it quits after 4 miles and come out for a stronger run today. I also wanted to redo the training run I did last year, where I did 3 loops from Antrim to Wilson Bridge Road.

It was reasonably cool starting out. I had my MP3 player and I don’t know if that was part of the problem, but I felt a bit uneasy initially; just felt like I couldn’t find my pace. A couple miles later, however, I got “in the groove”. I was wearing my marathon maniacs singlet, and I said hi to lots of folks as I was running. I ended up listening to a podcast of Pheddipidations, which suited my pace a bit better than high speed music.

First loop: 1:01:15.

Stopped, grabbed some hammer gel and visited the portapotty. Someone stopped to ask me about my singlet, actually he asked “do you all do 50 marathons in 50 weeks”? Uh, no. I went to start again and my MP3 player batteries died, so I dropped it off in the car and headed out for my next two loops tune-less.

The second loop felt ok. I had been consciously trying to hold back, but I pulled a couple half miles in about 4/4:10, which was definitely faster than I wanted to be!

Second loop: 59:04.

I took a longer break after this loop, the portapotties were occupied for quite awhile (to the point where I eventually left without using them), and it was tough to start up again. I definitely felt sluggish. Also, the fact I was only stopping for water every 6 miles probably had an effect too. The mileage for this last loop is a little off; I detoured to catch a portapotty, and then to get water later. As well, a guy caught up with me close to Wilson Bridge Road and we chatted for a bit, and he stopped there, so I slowed to walk and chat for a moment (he and a friend were training for their second marathon). Later I slowed to a walk, not because I was overly exhausted, just lost some motivation. So with an inaccurate mileage reading,

Third loop: 59:47

So roughly 19 or 19.5 miles in 3:00:07. I’m content with that. It actually felt like a really good training run. My legs were a bit tight, but I felt strong overall. I’m looking forward to Chicago!