Today was the first "long" run of my NYC Marathon training cycle. It was originally planned for yesterday (Sunday, my long run day) but with the holiday and family stuff it was going to be hard to squeeze it in with all of the eating, etc. So I asked Wendy if we could move it to today. She said that was fine.
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I had 7 easy miles on the schedule for Saturday when we drove from Minneapolis to Duluth. Because it had been so hot in Minneapolis all week, I saved this one for the afternoon so I could do it up north. Well, that was a mistake. It was just as hot in Duluth as in Twin Cities and I had to really gut out those 7 miles.
My runs for the past week have been relatively un-reportable. We are still working on recovery while at the same time starting to add on some easy mileage. My legs have been a bit tired, though not terribly so. I have more been using this time to adjust to (1) early morning, 5am runs before work and (2) the heat. I am NOT a hot weather runner - or person. I hate it. I would much rather be cold and bundled up than stripped down to the last possible piece and still overheated. A Duluth girl through and through I guess.
The good thing about the 7 on Saturday was that my legs felt fine. Back to normal. No residual soreness. But I felt tired and spent the entire way. My breathing was labored and I just wanted to get it done. I had tons of family (and food, and wine, and a grill, and a fire pit) back at my house and I just wanted to get there. I truly thought it was the heat that was killing me. Then I looked at my watch. I am still only looking at distance and just running by feel. I check the data after I am finished. I had averaged 9:29s on this run with my fastest one being 9:03. Well no wonder it felt labored. In my runs all week I have been averaging about 10 minute miles. Just fine for where I am in recovery, etc. I keep realizing over and over that I have absolutely no sense of pace. I felt like I was going fast, but I thought it was just because I was laboring from the heat. Alas.
Today I had to run 12. Just 12. That was my "long" run. It. Was. Miserable. So hard. I swear it felt worse than my last 20...so I will say it felt like 25. I got out at 8:30 but it was already hot. I pretty much knew it was going to be an annoying grind starting about .90 miles in when a bug got itself lodged in the bottom of my eye. I will spare the grity details of how I gutted this one out...but I really didn't enjoy it. After 6 miles, I stopped and bought a gatorade which was a really smart decision. It helped a LOT. I was back at my car at this point and the old me most definitely would have gotten inside, called it a day, chalked it up to the heat, and driven home. But there is no way I can get away with that when my poor coach's organs keep conspiring to keep her down and yet she still gets out and runs! At 8.75 I stopped again and used the loo. Also a wise pit stop. On this entire run, I really had to just decide that I was stuck doing this for the next however many minutes and that was that. And it was.
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Song that got me pumped up the most on my run today? Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me." Go ahead. Judge away. I learned it in spinning class and it's a winner for me while exercising.
Most irritating thing on this run? Super stingy sweat running in my eyes. Why do I feel like this hasn't happened to me before? I mean, I trained through the summer in Washington DC! Perhaps I did not have my visor pulled tight enough. Not sure, but it stung like crazy and I was so covered with salt I was helpless to fix the problem.
Favorite part of this run? The end. But not because it was over. But because I saw my splits and was proud. Well, at first I wasn't. They kinda bummed me out. I want so badly to get faster. I averaged 10:28s which just seemed slow - despite how hard I was working. Then I remembered (1) this was my first hot long run of the season, (2) I am still only 2 weeks post marathon, and (3) a run like this during my past training cycles, for either one of the first two reasons, or neither, would have most definitely averaged b/w 11-12 minute miles - likely closer to 12 in this heat. I am getting faster. I just need to be patient and keep plugging away and leaving my excuses to the old me.
It's amazing how fast our accomplishments become the thing we want more than anything to exceed.
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