Eight full miles today and I have to say it was probably one of the easiest, most pleasant runs ever. Combined with getting out on my bike for the rest of the afternoon, I have had a fantastic day!
I was a little psyched out at having to do eight miles -- this is the furthest I've run at one time in my life. Plus, the last long run was exquisitely bad, if you'll recall. But last night, I was starting to get into having as long as I needed to do this run today and just kept thinking about it in bed... consequently, I didn't get a very restful night's sleep. But I got up with my alarm, did my therapy, and strapped on my running shoes. I squirreled away a 12 oz Gatorade in my motorcycle's saddlebag, as my planned route would take me past my house again and I'd just been reading in the book about the importance of staying hydrated and getting some kind of fluid with simple carbohydrates.
The first mile was not bad -- tough as usual, but already I could tell this was going to be a good run. The next two were not part of the usual "three first miles"; they were considerably easier than I expected -- my breathing settled into a 2-in/3-out pattern after the first mile. Also, a lot of the snow and ice has melted, making the Redhook 3-mile loop easier than the last couple of runs.
I came past my house at the 3-mile point, picked up the Gatorade, drank a third, and left my sweatshirt, hat, and gloves behind. Now I was just in a t-shirt and running pants, on a beautiful 50-degree sunny day. I couldn't have asked for better.
The remaining five miles was the Park loop -- up the hill, around the Park once, then down the hill; a little over five miles. So on I went. The fourth mile, being mostly up hill, was challenging and at one point I found myself breathing a 2-in/2-out pattern; that's a first! My lungs haven't been able to move air out that fast before. And I couldn't sustain it once the slope leveled off a bit. I had a second third of Gatorade at the bottom of the park, somewhere around the end of mile 6, then drained the bottle as I left the park with one mile left to go. And of course, the last mile was all downhill! :)
The Park portion was extremely pleasant. Lots of people out, lots of kids, lots of pretty little things jogging along. I didn't mind having to dodge people for once. I was really taken by surprise when, on the big uphill, I was passed by a wee little woman about a foot shorter than me who was really moving. And it looked like it was easy for her! for a few minutes I matched her pace, but found that too difficult to keep up on the uphill.
I did have some pain in my left achilles; it came and went. I stretched when I got home, showered, and iced my tendon and ankles. Right after stretching, I realized I hadn't checked the time. I had started at noon and it was now 1:36. I had been stretching for the last six minutes at least, probably more like eight or ten. Basically, I think I did my regular 11-minute pace or maybe even shaved it to 10:something. Certainly much of my run was quicker than usual.
Well, what a fantastic run all around; all the elements came together. Next week is a 3-5-3-10 week. I'm supposed to be doing the 10 miles at Central Park, as part of a 15K run. I figure to make it the requisite 10 miles, I'll put in a mile just before the start of the race as warm-up. This may also make the beginning of the race easier.
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