By just the title alone, you know I had a stellar long run today. I don’t take credit for the title entirely. Inspiration came from a likely source … Running Down Dreams, a Brooklyn-based runner who frequents Twitter. She is an amazing and uplifting person and her blog reflects those characteristics. I highly recommend you peep it. Anyway, yesterday I mentioned that I had a good long run planned and she asked whether it would involve Love & Happiness … a reminder to Run Happy. Not coincidentally, her question sparked the memories of possibly my favorite R&B artist of all time.
I told you she is in Brooklyn. So she knows music!
I’ve said before that long runs are like a box of chocolate. I have goals, but sometimes you just never know what you are going to get. I’ve been recharging for the last two weeks … not completely shutting down running, but mentally and physically just taking a step back. I definitely did so on Tuesday and refused to push the pedal on Thursday’s tempo. I wanted enough in the tank to have a solid LR this morning. My longest run of 2010 had been 15.7 back in early January. Clearly the focus has been on speed, but I’ve still done plenty of mini’s (10-13m)… every weekend. Therefore, when I saw this week’s workouts included a 16-miler as prep for the Brooklyn HM, I was psyched.
I had 2 goals for this morning … get some measure of hill work involved and stay in the 8:30 pace range. No hill sprints, but I did enough to satisfy the urge. The terrain for the first 8 miles was about as hilly as CP can get … I started off down Cat Hill (waking up the quads), circled south up past Tavern on the Green and up the West Drive (rolling hills), topped it off with a double loop of Harlem Hill and finished it by working a long painful incline from the base of Harlem Hill heading south on the East Drive to Engineer’s Gate. That’s a big workout, folks. Goal #1 = Check. Enough with the hiatus. It’s game time. BK HM is in 1 month!
Since the hill work required pounding the asphalt, I decided the balance of the run needed to be on soft surface. I went to the Reservoir for a series of loops. I can’t even tell you how many because I lost count. Here are the splits from the entire run:
| Mile
1 |
Pace
8:46 |
| 2 | 8:21 |
| 3 | 8:18 |
| 4 | 8:24 |
| 5 | 8:23 |
| 6 | 8:29 |
| 7 | 8:26 |
| 8 | 8:22 |
| 9 | 8:36 |
| 10 | 8:42 |
| 11 | 8:27 |
| 12 | 8:21 |
| 13 | 8:18 |
| 14 | 8:19 |
| 15 | 8:11 |
| 16 | 7:56 |
I lost a little rhythm adjusting to the dirt path on miles 9,10, but otherwise it was a reasonably consistent effort. I didn’t set out to for a progression on the last 6 miles, but I’m glad it happened that way … the push at the end of races needs to just become second nature. Progressions are a way to accomplish it. I would say only on the last 2 miles I felt it … meaning that mentally I realized 14,15, 16 miles is a sizable effort. Still, to push thru and negative split without killing myself, is a sign that I’m getting stronger. Goal #2 = Check. I feel like I’ve earned that massage scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Since I’ve have not put down this many miles in months I soaked in an ice-cold bath when I came home. You all know my issues with cold hands and inability to regulate body temperature. I took a cue from a teammate and put on a winter cap, mittens, sweatshirt and kept the half-tights on while I shivered for 15 minutes. It was a much better experience. My wife came by, saw me and told me I was insane. I said she would be thankful tomorrow when I’m not shuffling and creaking around like a 90-year-old.
Lastly, I’ve been quietly adding to the Blogroll without giving the bloggers a proper introduction. I hope to do that tomorrow. There is lot’s of good stuff out there for all of us to read.