Long Run Monday: 4E, 4HM, 2E

mondayrun

Second to last long run before Chilly! Can we just note the calories? Don’t forget to eat more on your long run days (and maybe the day after!).

I ran the kids to school (Will on his bike, Andrew in the jogging stroller) and then dropped the stroller off and set out for the rest of the run.

Rather than just go for easy miles, I actually managed to follow one of Greg’s training suggestions! He has great advice, but I’m not great at following it because it might impact my swimming or my schedule. “I agree! I should run 4 x 1600 tomorrow! But I need an easy day after swimming and I am way behind on every household task!” Ok, and some mornings I need to just sit and drink coffee for a little bit in silence.

Anyway, the stars aligned today, and his suggestion made for a wonderful run. He said he’d recommend throwing 4 slightly faster miles in the middle of my 10 mile run. Enough to get me used to a possible race pace while tired, but not too much considering I haven’t tapered and am still shocked to be doing long runs at all.

4e4hm2e

The first fast mile, mile 5, was so hard. I kept looking at my watch and adjusting my pace from too slow to too fast and back again. I was all over the place. Then I settled in, and the next miles were a challenging pace, but doable, and really enjoyable. It was fun to have a goal, to adjust strategy for hills so I would still clock in around 10:30 for the mile, to think with every song that I was a little closer to making it through the tough part.

Part of the point of this is to get you used to the feel of running a target race pace, but without the wear and tear of running a training run at race pace.

So… is 10:30 my race pace? I’m not convinced of that, but it did feel good to manage four solid miles of around 10:30 pace in the middle of a 10 mile run. That bodes well for being able to run this entire half marathon on Nov. 13th… which, I’m sure some of you remember, I had thought wasn’t possible.

It was a great run, and I’m thrilled!

I followed it with a special lunch with just my little guy, and getting him new sheets for his converted big bed.

Swim lesson #4 of the season tomorrow! I was at the pool Sunday pulling myself back and forth with just one arm. If you’ve done swim drills with a barbell and pull buoy, you know what I’m talking about. If not… well, it’s surprisingly relaxing because there’s a lot less to focus on.

Hope your fall running is going well!

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5 comments

  1. Nice job! You must feel great I ran my half yesterday and as you might recall my training was spotty. I did my long runs, but my mi-week training and weight training fell-off. But yesterday was awesome! I was just running my pace. But I caught up with a running buddy who was struggling and decided to stick with her to get her to the finish. I was not on a PR pace anyway. No regrets. I have not felt this good running in a while and can’t wait to run again.

  2. Well good for you! I think you are ready! I had my half on Sunday. And as worried as I was about this run heading into it – not training well with my my Dad’s illness and him passing away, work being so busy, everything worked out. I was having a great run! I have not felt this good running in all my training runs in a while. I told my running buddies I was not going to try and pace with them, I was going to run my race. I had to make a pit stop around mile 3 and lost a couple of minutes. Then I caught up with someone from my group around mile 8.5 and she was really struggling. I decided to stay with her and get her through. She needed to take some walking breaks, but that was OK. I was not on a PR pace and I would have felt bad leaving her behind. I know how bad I felt last year when I ran with bronchitis. So we crossed the finish line together. On to the Women’s Half Marathon in April!

    1. I’m glad you ran and that you took the opportunity to keep a running friend company, that’s incredibly nice! I’ve had someone do that for me during a race, and it can make such a difference if you’re sure that you’re not costing the other person a PR. My sympathies are with you on your father, and impressed that you made peace with the amount of running you could do, and raced anyway. I hope you really enjoy using your base to train for the Women’s Half in April!

  3. Hi Kelly,
    I discovered your blog and FB quite by accident when I was googling about the pros and con of run/walk vs. solid running. I love your blog and reading about your running journey. So glad to have found this and look forward to following your runs and races! 😄

    1. Thanks Roxanne! I’m so glad you ended up here – it’s been really fun connecting with other runners and sharing experiences 🙂

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