Notes on my long run before I forget

Pure nastiness. Why all over my hand? Thank god I didn't look in the mirror. I bet it wasn't pretty!

My long run today was 19 miles. 3 mile warm up, 15 miles faster and 1 mile cool down. I had no choice but to start at 5:30 am. I have stuff to do and it just takes so long to run that far.

I woke up at 4:30. Drank espresso and got dressed. I'm glad it was dark because I had way too much neon on. I prefer neon in the early hours just so people can see me. I ran in Wakefield. It's a hilly route with sidewalks, but I don't like concrete sidewalks so I run in the road. It's softer on my feet. It keeps me awake. The whole, "look out for oncoming traffic" thing keeps me on my toes.

So the first 3 miles were oddly slow but felt faster. I think because it was in the pitch dark. Every shadow looked like a snake or animal that was going to eat me. Not fun. Very stressful.

Those splits were:7:57, 7:55, 7:47 and 191 feet of elevation. Garmin here

So I got to the top of the hill in the dark. I stopped and thought to myself ok, I need to go faster now. I was tired. It was like 6am. I wanted to go to bed. But I drank some G2 in my handheld and took off. I planned it so that at mile 10 I could stop at my car and refill my G2 and pick up a hammer gel. It was something to look forward to.

My splits on the next 15 miles were:
7:09
6:56
7:04
7:01
7:08
6:57
6:56
6:41  hammer gel. Espresso with 50mg's of caffeine. Refill on G2 9oz
7:01
6:54
6:46
6:55
6:37
6:45
6:46

My initial goal was 7:10 pace. But being that I wasn't getting any 7:10's I changed my mind to 7:05 pace. I had a dream last night that I ran the 15 miles in 7:04 pace so I figured ok that's cool. Than I refilled the G2 and had the Hammer Gel. No more 7's period. And I swear no more effort. Normally if I bust out a 6:3X in the middle of any run I'll pay for it. Not today. So I just stayed consistent effort wise. My overall avg pace was 6:54. Garmin here

I had a couple 20 second stops to get the gel from the bottom of the pack. Clearly, something I need to work on or maybe bring another one. But it's all new to me. I'm learning.

By now I had climbed 800 feet of elevation in 100 humidity and 75 degrees. The terrain is rolling enough to just about kill you but then give way to a good downhill.

Towards the end I started to get cocky. I wanted to close my eyes and just rest a little (while doing 6:45 pace lol) So the last mile had downhill and I shut my eyes and BAM a manhole cover. I did the sloppiest, drunk looking trip but didn't fall. I said okaaay, no more sleepy time. Run, run, run....

I finished the 15 and then did a one mile cool down. Completely up a hill. 7:58 pace. Yay. done! Total elevation almost 1000ft.

Overall, a good run. You guys asked about the liquid. I drank 18oz of g2 and had one gel over the entire run. I wish I had more.  I sweat 6 lbs of water during the run. There weren't any fountains and I really don't want to carry a larger hand held. I feel I can just barely get by with 18oz. I have more gatorade in my car with an ice pack when I finish.

oh and FYI. Resetting my watch totally tricked me into thinking I had not run so far. I cleared it after the 3 mile warm up. So near the end of what really was 18 I kept telling myself 15. I "knew" I ran longer but seeing it on the garmin made me feel like having energy was still possible. I punked myself, beautiful!

Have a great Sunday!
Party on...xoxo