from total despair to finding nirvana
Today was my long run. I had high hopes.
We actually had a nice, sunny, non-snowing, warm, not very windy day today. Wow. Does it get better? Read on…
I headed out feeling a bit uneasy because of the lingering effects of a grueling workout I had on Saturday – 13 miles at 8:00 minutes/mile aka “marathon pace”.
Not only was I still feeling a wee bit of fatigue from that workout, but my right Achilles – which had given me quite a bit of trouble in the last couple of miles of Saturday’s workout – was still not 100%.
So today I started out slow and was happy that the Achilles was feeling fine …at least for a while.
I paced myself with what I thought has been the pace I’ve been running my long runs lately – around 8:45 min/mile. At the half way point, I pushed a bit harder (as per Andrew’s instructions to “run the second half faster than the first”). I was able to hold the faster pace without much problem for 30 minutes. At two hours, things started to get difficult and, from that point forward it just got harder and harder. I found myself almost crawling in the last three miles. I was going so slow it was really saddening.
I felt myself tightening up and was anticipating calf cramps at any moment so I decided to turn around and cut the run a bit short. I was DONE and had no desire to end this run in an injury.
I thought I’d be walking home on my hands that last half mile or so.
But, being in the state I was in, I didn’t notice how close I’d come to the 20 mile mark. When I got back home, my legs were in rough shape. They ached like they haven’t ached in a long time. Ouch.
Water, dinner, and shower and a half hour later and I sat down at the computer and figured things out:
Time: 2:48:45
Distance: 19.76 miles
Pace: 8:32 minutes per mile!
I was ecstatic! An 8:30 min/mile long run pace has been my silent goal for this marathon and the goal was finally achieved today.
Funny …the soreness seems to have gone away? 
