Long & Hard
This morning Tony made his first confession. Everything went very well on this key step toward his making his first communion, save that Saturday morning is usually the time of the week I run long. So I improvised by plotting a long route that left St. Vincent's after the ceremony and would get me home 17 miles later.
For the record, in this 17-mile course the first 3.5 went from Germantown to Falls River Bridge, down Kelly Drive and up West River Drive (to the other side of Falls River Bridge) got me to about 12, then I veered left on the same roads I took last Saturday with I. to make it to Ford Road and Chamounix (in Fairmount Park) for about 13.5, and then the last 3.5 miles home covered the last part of my Strawberry Mansion Bridge loop.
The first part of the run felt like low 7's down to high 6 pace and I used the downhill from Falls Bridge on Kelly to ramp up to marathon pace by the time I hit the first 1/4 mile hash on the bike path. Averaged marathon pace over the next four miles (24:14), recovered for about a 1/4 mile, and again did the next four miles up WRD at marathon pace (24:04). Then I hit the hills and had to make an emergency stop at a Path Mark that was providentially placed on the course, after which I fell into a steady recovery pace, maybe 8:00 pace or so, for the rest of the way home.
A really hard run, but now that I'm done I'm very encouraged by it. I did the MP miles mainly to see if I could. I know that it is more effective to put these miles at the back end of a long run, but I'm not there yet. My reason for doing these is to mentally get more comfortable with the pace. This is the first run where 6/6:05 did not feel like a tempo pace to me. This means that I could sustain the pace without constantly pushing and, dare I say it, I actually felt comfortable for stretches at this pace. This is my main goal at this point. To get better acquainted with the pace, more at home in it, more like its a friend instead of some grim and foreboding creature. Here the volume of miles helped alot. When you do three at MP they seem like something exotic, when you do eight its a different feel. I especially liked that I was able to do a brief recovery by the front of the Art Museum as I was crossing to West River Drive and then was able to immediately pick up marathon pace again.
After this stretch, going uphill in strange territory while out of breath and having to shit was the low point of the run, filling me with the despair of being a long way from home. But to my pleasant surprise I had enough left in me after re-emerging out of the Path Mark to keep a steady pace home, and the run did not devolve into the death march I feared it would. This is the second encouraging point of today's run. While I probably overdid it today, I nonetheless made it home in good shape.
I spent the rest of the day like an elite runner, mainly eating and sleeping. My legs feel like I've just raced, and I've probably put more effort into this run than I have into some races. Hopefully there is no long term fallout, but you can be sure I'll whine all about it in future posts if there is.
For the record, in this 17-mile course the first 3.5 went from Germantown to Falls River Bridge, down Kelly Drive and up West River Drive (to the other side of Falls River Bridge) got me to about 12, then I veered left on the same roads I took last Saturday with I. to make it to Ford Road and Chamounix (in Fairmount Park) for about 13.5, and then the last 3.5 miles home covered the last part of my Strawberry Mansion Bridge loop.
The first part of the run felt like low 7's down to high 6 pace and I used the downhill from Falls Bridge on Kelly to ramp up to marathon pace by the time I hit the first 1/4 mile hash on the bike path. Averaged marathon pace over the next four miles (24:14), recovered for about a 1/4 mile, and again did the next four miles up WRD at marathon pace (24:04). Then I hit the hills and had to make an emergency stop at a Path Mark that was providentially placed on the course, after which I fell into a steady recovery pace, maybe 8:00 pace or so, for the rest of the way home.
A really hard run, but now that I'm done I'm very encouraged by it. I did the MP miles mainly to see if I could. I know that it is more effective to put these miles at the back end of a long run, but I'm not there yet. My reason for doing these is to mentally get more comfortable with the pace. This is the first run where 6/6:05 did not feel like a tempo pace to me. This means that I could sustain the pace without constantly pushing and, dare I say it, I actually felt comfortable for stretches at this pace. This is my main goal at this point. To get better acquainted with the pace, more at home in it, more like its a friend instead of some grim and foreboding creature. Here the volume of miles helped alot. When you do three at MP they seem like something exotic, when you do eight its a different feel. I especially liked that I was able to do a brief recovery by the front of the Art Museum as I was crossing to West River Drive and then was able to immediately pick up marathon pace again.
After this stretch, going uphill in strange territory while out of breath and having to shit was the low point of the run, filling me with the despair of being a long way from home. But to my pleasant surprise I had enough left in me after re-emerging out of the Path Mark to keep a steady pace home, and the run did not devolve into the death march I feared it would. This is the second encouraging point of today's run. While I probably overdid it today, I nonetheless made it home in good shape.
I spent the rest of the day like an elite runner, mainly eating and sleeping. My legs feel like I've just raced, and I've probably put more effort into this run than I have into some races. Hopefully there is no long term fallout, but you can be sure I'll whine all about it in future posts if there is.
posted by seebo | 5:06 PM
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