Awesome - Every long run should be this way.
My friend Terry and I are on similar long run schedules. We both had 18 miles on deck. After getting notification from the CA Cruisers that the planned run this weekend was Two Parks, Two Loops, Terry and I decided to head down to Huntington Beach instead. The trip to HB gave us a reprieve from the hot temps expected in the valley. To further avoid the heat we decided to get started earlier than usual at 6:00 a.m.
Apparently we weren't the only Cruisers that headed to the beach today. We ran into Jay and Ron & Lisa. We also saw one of Terry's friends Myrna, along with a ton of other runners.
We used a 6:1 run:walk ratio throughout and finished up in 2:56 for a 9:47 pace. I usually dread the 18 mile distance. Somehow it seems harder than even the 20 or 22. But today everything went spectacularly. I had no major aches or pains, no chafing, and best of all no GI issues. I was even good at taking in fluids as evidenced by the bathroom stops (I did make three quick stops at the bathrooms along the bike path). Fluids in means fluids out, which is why I typically neglect drinking as much as recommended. I was even able to pick up the pace for the last mile and finished strong. Terry is notorious for her "horse to barn" finishes on long runs but today I outpaced her. Feeling strong at the end of a long run is a rare occurrence for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Two more really long ones before the big day at HOA. Right now I say - Bring it on!
3 comments:
So glad you had a great run. It's going to carry you far in the next few weeks. I escaped the heat yesterday morning too and now wonder if that helped w/ my run too.
so, you were the first horse back to the barn :-) Well done!!
Solid run. And funny we both blogged about the impact of fluids, so to speak.
I'm thrilled this 18 miler went well. The 6/1 is a great ratio and you did well to go sub 10 on that ratio at that distance. That is very confidence-building.
Hard to believe only two more long runs till HOA. We're getting there quickly!!
Nice run...great post.
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