Tough but promising long run today. 2pm and 25 degrees. By the end my chip and bottom lip were totally frozen. My thoughts today were to just get the miles in. Not that I was down going into the run, but I had a decent strength builder last night and I just wanted to get some aerobic base miles in today. So I just tried to settle into a pace that felt comfortable and controlled. Most of the run held this, but the last 7.6 miles were very promising, run at race pace, but I didn't think I was picking up the pace. Certainly I was aware of it the last few miles, but prior to that I just felt that I was holding things were I wanted. Finishing mile was a 6:42. I believe that it was missing my turn at mile 9ish that caused me to jump the pace up. I missed my turn and realized it about 3/4 of a mile down the road. Had to stop and ask for directions. Was running a new route and there was no street sign for Old Sappington Road where it meets New Sappington Road. So this tacked on an additonal 1.5 onto my 18 mile run. I made some slight modifications at the close to tighten it back to the original distance. At any rate.... First 6.5 miles in 48:10 (7:25s -- good easy start). Next 4.2 in 30:50 (7:20s -- little pick up, but nothing major, still getting some quality aerobic base miles in). Last 7.6 in 52:23 (6:53s -- Woah! I knew I had picked it up a bit to make up for the extra 1.5 miles I had accidentally tacked on. I took a Gu before this segment, which may have added to this increased pace. This was my first Gu aided run of this training cycle. I'm trying to train my body without it so that I get an extra benefit when I do take it ... looks like perhaps it may have worked on this day. Finishing mile in 6:42). Topped it off with a .5 mile cool down in 3:52 (7:44s). Total run time for 18.8 was 2:15:15 (7:12s) ... if we take the cool down out it was 18.3 in 2:11:23 (7:11s). Good stuff today. Very pleased with this run. When I was done I felt I had quite a bit in the tank still. Good feeling to have on such a cold day. | 