Drove to Washington Terrace and ran past Mtn. Dell GC, over to Little Dell, up Little Mtn., down Emigration, up Crestview to Wasatch, down 13th South to Foothill, then along Foothill to Sunnyside and over to Steiner Aquatic Center (the kids had a swim meet). Ate a banana on the way. Plan was to do 4-mile warmup, then 2x10k at MP effort (171 bpm target). Unfortunately, when I got out of the car and started getting ready to run, I realized that I'd left my Garmin at home. I did my best to guess at distance and effort, then went back later and clocked the mileage. Here's what I found: Warmup: 4.3 miles to the T that turns up Little Mtn., then 5-minute rest plus refueling (1 pack lime Jelly Belly Sport Beans) 10k #1 ended up being...drumroll, please: exactly 6.2 miles. Except for first 1.5 (up Little Mtn.), pace probably ranged between 5:50-6:00. Effort felt like high 160s to low 170s. Stopped briefly and downed another pack of jelly beans.
10k #2 ended up being short, but only by 0.1. Pace may have slowed a bit at the end, but probably not by much. With about 2.5 miles to go, I sipped a Strawberry Banana Power Gel with caffeine. Suprisingly, although sweet, the gel went down quite well with a little water (need to remember that for future reference). I didn't notice a spike-and-crash like I've felt in the past with caffeinated gels. When I finished, I was tired but not wiped out. I recovered well and never really experienced the heavy fatigue that sometimes accompanies long run days. In fact, I was no more tired than after a 10-mile day. I wish I'd had my Garmin to give me an accurate picture of my splits, but it was kind of nice to try to gauge my pace and HR by how I felt as opposed to relying solely on the device.
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