Training Day 7

Long runs. This is the run that I always look forward to. Even though the plan that I am currently following refers to runs of this length as medium-long runs...to me, it's still a long run!

I had my alarm set for 4AM, but I woke up well before it and rolled out of bed around 3:50. I had pre-filled my water bottles for my FuelBelt Helium Hydration Belt the night prior with some Gatorade, so I was all set. I fired up the coffee pot that was set to go off at 4AM, and had a cup before walking out to the start of my run.

I set the 12 miles up into 2 mile segments on my Garmin 220 with negative splits. I ran the first 2 right at the edge of my planned 10:30-11:00 pace. I finished right at 10:30 and had to keep myself from speeding up too much early. It was during this first segment when I realized that I had forgot to start my heart-rate monitor. I had it strapped to my forearm, but it was off, and in order for it to monitor during my run, I'd have to start and stop the run on the watch. I opted for taking the monitor off and just carrying it in my pocket for this run!

The next two segments were planned at 10:10-10:30 and I felt comfortable at that pace, even when going slightly uphill at a few points.

The last 3 segments of two miles were set at 9:50-10:10 and I ran these with daylight starting to show. Toward the end of the last segment, the sun had started to come out, and there was a pretty good uphill on the last mile, although I was never really in danger of falling out of the range or work too hard to maintain. Not to say that it was easy. The temperature was already well into the 70s and the humidity was pretty high...maybe high 70s. (I forgot to check!) Right now at 10:00AM it's already 82 with a humidity that's dropping from a current 77%.

I ran this 12 miles with no shirt. It's the first time I've tried running shirtless, and with the heat and humidity, I think it's the way I'm going to do my long runs all summer. My shorts were soaked by the time I was done, and it was nice not to have to put up with a sweat-soaked shirt as well.

I also ran "the circle" in my town: Boll Weevil Circle. Because of traffic, I wanted to get up really early before running on the circle. There were very few cars until the very end...and I plan to do a few more long runs incorporating the circle.

Boll Weevil Circle

I did have some thoughts about how it's going to be possible to run this distance twice, plus another 2.2 miles on top of it...at a pace better than a minute-per mile faster. I'm not too concerned at this point. I still have 17 weeks to go! As long as I can keep the aches and pains to a minimum, I will be fine. I'm already looking forward to next weeks long run, and since I just ordered some new shoes, I'm even more excited for it.