Afternoon: Was trying for 2 days to put together some kind of group or partner to run a LR today. Finally Reed was able to say he could run with me at about 10:30 Friday night. We planned for 2 in the afternoon which gave us both some time to prep. My run Friday was pretty sluggish and I felt heavy and slow probably from the double on Thursday still I went in with the feeling of some anxiety thinking I would struggle on this MP simulation LR. I knew whatever I did that I needed to suck it up mentally and just not think about the pain barriers and push through the workout the best I could. Reed is automatic at 6:30 pace so I knew I had a good running partner today to pace me through the workout. I told Reed I wanted to do 20 miles with the first 10 @7:30 pace and the second 10 @6:30 pace. Either way I wanted to just stick to a comfortable plan that would simulate MP. The course we set out to do was a 10 mile loop from Reed's house that is an honest course with the first 5 incline and last 5 decline. We started out feeling really comfortable and only took about 1/4 mile before we settled into pace mode so this made me think that I was feeling good from the get go and that we should just run whatever pace felt comfortable. Reed would rattle off the splits to me as I could not get my stupid watch to work...again! I felt very comfortable at 4 miles averaging 7:01 pace which to me I felt was suppose to be just a nice WU heading into the second 5 miles of this loop. We hit the 5 mile mark and I felt like we should pick it up to MP and work on pace mode. Reed looked and felt great. WE settled into 6:30 pace with ease. As we neared the 8 mile mark, I felt even better and we crusied into the 10 mile mark around 6:20 pace. We were around 1:08 for the half way point which I thought was perfect considering the snowfall was brutal with head winds and my shoes were already sopping wet and about 10 lbs heavier. After a quick bathroom break, we head back out to do the next 10 miles. I told Reed at about 1/2 mile into the next 10 miles that I wanted to take 11-14 a little easier(about 7:20 pace avg.) and then MP the last 5-6 miles of the LR. He thought that was a great idea and suggested that he thought this was the better format than what I was planning. I told Reed that I felt this was going much better than planned and that I wanted to just run comfortably and focus on MP. The course was not the same simulation as PHX, but considering the planning and the two 10k's going on this Sat. I didn't have much choice but to luckily convince Reed not to run 20 miles on a dumb TM. Don't know how people go further than 10 miles on a TM anyway. We got a quick water break at mile 14 in Alpine and then started up quickly into MP. At about 17 miles we were cruising @6:25 pace and I told Reed I could feel my left hammy flaring up. I didn't try to think about it too much. Reed was doing an excellent job helping me break down the pacing walls. Two times during this 6 mile stretch I wanted to ease back, but I sucked it up and tried to go back and forth with Reed taking the lead then I would take the lead. The last 2 miles were definitely the toughest. I was feeling really tired but still felt very strong during the whole run. I just tried to focus on not thinking about the run and just relax through the pace. We averaged about 6:54 pace for the total run which for me was a successful LR. I was very pleased with the workout. I got about 11-12 miles of great MP running during this long run and feel like it was a perfect workout for PHX. Almost 83 miles for the week and that is the most I have done in my life for a week. Very excited in my progress and fortunate enough to have great running buddies that are crazy to brave the elements and help me get better. The elements sucked today, but I know that alone will make race days easier down the road. Did a 3 mile CD after I got home. First mile was 10:38, hahaha, seriously that was all I could do though. My legs felt like bricks. Don't know why as the marathon training is very new to me. Glad to be done for the week. :) | 