20 miler #2 is a done deal
After last Monday’s meltdown I was nervous about today’s 20 miler. I’m pretty sure last Monday sucked because it was my first long run since October that was on snow-free pavement. You wouldn’t think there would be that much of a difference but I could sense a very big one as I passed over the last hundred feet of snow covered path on my route home today. Snow – even hard packed snow is much softer than pavement, and I went from long runs where most of my route was snow covered, to long runs where pretty much all the the route was clear in only about 10 days. In other words, I started my first 20 miler with virtually no experience running on pavement this season and the added stress kicked the hell out of me.
I ended up taking two days off running following that long run. I don’t think I’ve taken two days off in a row since November but I sure did need it last week.
After that, I gingerly made my way back onto the fresh pavement with a strong focus on lightness and high cadence. It seemed to pay off since yesterday’s run felt good and today’s long run went well. Details:
Time: 3:04:30
Distance: 19.94 miles
Pace: 9:15 min/mile
I ran this run a bit slower than I wanted to (9:00 minute/mile or better). However, given I needed it to be a confidence builder, I’m fine with the pace. Andrew’s instructions were to run the second half faster than the first and I was successful with those instructions running the first half (I think) at about 9:30 min/mile and the second half at about 9:00 min/mile
Have I mentioned I also ate better today than I did last week?
The slower pace, week of adaptation to pavement and better fueling all paid off since I didn’t feel really fatigued until 2:50 in the run. Good stuff.
Next week with two weeks under my belt I’ll do the long run a bit faster. Plus, I’m anticipating some further stresses for the run courtesy the Coach who has said, “Come race day, we won’t be doing anything we haven’t done in training”.
Tuesday March 27, 2007 @
You go girlfriend!