Last 3 Long Runs
While I haven’t posted about a run in a while, I’ve still continued on the Hal Higdon Marathon Training Guide Novice program for the last couple weeks. Earlier this summer, I made a decision not to play outdoor fall soccer (partially to allow more time for running) & one of my indoor teams has been on break for the last two weeks, so that’s helped me quite a bit in in the last couple weeks to make sure I get my runs in. (I haven’t been able to squeeze any raquetball in though.) This coming week both my indoor soccer teams will have a game each a week, but my weekends are set aside for nothing but scouting for deer, fly fishing for steelhead & my long runs right up through just after the start of archery season for deer.
My last three long runs were for the following distances, times & average paces:
- 8/11: 13.1 miles 1:53:03 - 8:38/mile
- 8/17: 13.1 miles 1:51:05 - 8:29/mile
- 8/27: 10 miles 1:23:51 - 8:23/mile
I remember the first 10 and 13 mile runs from last year summer very distinctly - those runs were the first times in my life I’d run double-digit distances - and they were tough. My body was sore both during and afterwards and they were slow runs. I’m extremely proud that this year a 13 mile run doesn’t bother me. They’re still far from a “give me” run, but I’ve felt great at the end of all three runs above and felt no pain what-so-ever afterwards
The first 13.1 mile run I did this year was a little disappointing in that it was 1 minute, 35 seconds slower than my 2006 Rochester half marathon time of 1:52:40, but it did include a stop in the middle to refuel, use the bathroom at my apartment and make a quick phone call to let the people I was meeting after the run know I’d need more time than originally anticipated. On top of that, I ran it at a fairly relaxed pace.
The second 13.1 mile run was also at a fairly relaxed pace for me, but also oddly enough also differed from my Rochester half time by 1 minute, 35 seconds - except this time it was faster. It too included a stop at home to use the bathroom, something I very much wanted to avoid this run, but would have certainly resulted in a horrific accident had I not stopped.
After not having run many hills last year, I’ve made sure I’d thrown a good amount into the training this year and run my long runs through them. The route from my apartment to Niagara Square along Delaware Ave and back changes elevation quite a bit, as well as the loops I’ve been doing around Delaware Park. Hopefully this training will help me quite a bit this year as the hills in Rochester were quite a learning experience last year.
But the thing that makes me most proud about the two last 13.1 mile runs was just the fact that I did them - the first one I started at 7:00am and was in Albany by 4 that same day. The second I started at 6:45am and was in Vegas by 5 localtime that day as well. I could have easily skipped them, but probably would have taken a signigicant step back in my training. The negative effects would have been compounded because I unfortunately had to attend to a couple wakes and a funeral the week after Vegas and my body was out of whack from Vegas, so I missed most of my mid-week runs that week.
Alas, all was not well at the end of these long runs. The second 13 miler was the last time I saw my iPod Shuffle (1 GB first generation). I’ve had poor luck with music players and headphones this year, but miss it nonetheless. It was actually starting to rust from sweat, suffered from not wanting to play about 90% of the time I turned it on and the armband for it was ready to fall apart, and although the thought of picking up an iPod Nano has crossed my mind several times, I’d prefer not to spend money on a new one. Rumour has it on a reputable site that Apple may release a new iPod with a iPhone like interface this coming Wednesday though, so I’m going to stick it out for a couple more days to see if there’s a new device and if so what pricing across the board looks like. Sadly, Apple has done away with their discount for academic institution members on iPods though.