Long Run, Part I

Good God, I’m busy at the moment. Who would have thought that four young children would be so much work (kidding)? Plus, my dad is coming tomorrow for a visit, he only told us yesterday, and that adds to the stress.

I’ll keep it reasonably short. On Wednesday I had my blood tested in the morning, and had to go there on an empty stomach, which meant running long beforehand was out of the question. I settled for 6 miles, but added 2 faster miles at 6:45 pace into the middle. When choosing which pair of shoes I should wear, I impulsively decided on my racing shoes. I’ll wear them in Ballycotton next week, and this was the first time for them on the road since the Loch Ness marathon, I think. It was time to blow off the dust. The run went well, and I wasn’t as starved as I thought I would be by the time my appointment came along. I’ll have the results in about 10 days. I also ran home from work to give me a few more miles for the day, and the legs felt really great. I was surprised this was sub-8 pace, because I really had taken it easy. I’ve read somewhere that one automatically runs faster in the evenings, and my experience bears this out.

Since I’ve just had two easy days it was time to go long again today. The weather was nice enough for a proper loop around Caragh Lake, this time including the extra detour around a hill called the Devil’s Elbow, which is my preferred long run route. It turned out to be about 16.6 miles, a bit shorter than the 17 I used to write into the log. I added an out-and-back section to get me to 20 miles, but from mile 15 on it was pretty hard going because my right foot was getting really sore. It felt like my right shoe wasn’t fitting properly (the left one was perfect), I felt “something” underneath the balls of the foot, and my toes felt like they were ramming into the front of the shoe. Then, after 19 miles, the pain went away on a slight downhill stretch. I don’t know if it’s an issue with the Nike Vomeros, they’re still quite new and have about 75 miles on them, but up to today they had felt really comfortable. The other thing that bothered me was the drinks bottle I had been carrying with me. I noticed in the fancy Garmin charts that my heart rate has a tendency to creep up as the run goes on, and though that dehydration might be an issue. However, I found that I hate carrying a bottle all the time, and might do without in future, just like I’ve done all along.

I’m planning another 20 miler tomorrow to make this a sandwich. I know how much they drag towards the end, but I think they gave my endurance such a boost last year that I definitely want to do them again. Those ultras are awfully long, even the short 39 mile ones.

27 Feb

am: 6 miles, 46:00, 7:40 pace, HR 150 incl. 2 @ 6:45
pm: 5 miles, 37:58, 7:35 pace, HR 146

28 Feb

20 miles, 2:43:13, 8:09 pace, HR 147