CIM Week 3: weekend long run

see the rainbow?

Saturday: Rest + upper body weights. Didn't get to the weights but did do about 2-3 miles of walking. The rain started in the early evening...a pounding rain..bargle.


Sunday: 20-22 miles@base, if feeling good add 5-6 miles @ MP in the middle.  


Awoke to no rain and even some sun and blue sky around in addition to some fat-looking clouds. As mentioned in the last post, I pondered Jill's assignment and decided I wanted to do a run that would really convince me I'm ready to go.


The risk is that you injure yourself from the run (or during a later run) because you are more beat up than you needed to be. I decided to play it vary carefully but yes, to do what I set out to do: 12 miles @ 9:30 and 10 miles @ 9:00.


Saddled up and out the door.. temps about 50F, no rain at the moment but I did slather some Vaseline on my feet and toes in case the feet got wet. No jacket but did bring some extra GUs to keep the blood sugar up...and of course I had a hat.


I felt pretty good. My HRs were low and I was moving easily. 9:30 was a slow pace for me now. There was some wind..probably 5-8 mph. At around mile 10 some light rain started but not too bad..at about mile 12 I ran through a deep puddle (watching for traffic) and my shoes were officially doused from then on.


I didn't run on any dirt trails..too many of them have muddy sections..so I stuck to the bayshore trails that were paved. The light rain fizzled out after a while.


The run felt great..the rainbow was a nice plus...it was one of the best long runs I've had. I felt I could have gone another 4.2 miles at 9:00 with only moderate effort.


Here's the splits:

Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:34	117	58.2	88	0	0	1.572
2	1.00	9:35	125	64.8	89	0	6	1.469
3	1.00	9:33	128	67.2	88	3	1	1.440
4	1.00	9:28	122	62.3	88	13	0	1.524
5	1.00	9:33	124	63.9	87	13	0	1.486
6	1.00	9:24	124	63.9	87	19	11	1.507
7	1.00	9:29	120	60.7	87	0	40	1.547
8	1.00	9:33	120	60.7	87	0	5	1.536
9	1.00	9:30	121	61.5	87	0	7	1.531
10	1.00	9:28	123	63.1	88	13	0	1.512
11	1.00	9:22	123	63.1	88	7	0	1.528
12	1.00	9:25	121	61.5	87	0	14	1.545
13	1.00	9:02	126	65.6	88	0	5	1.546
14	1.00	9:02	129	68.0	88	7	0	1.510
15	1.00	9:01	129	68.0	88	0	0	1.513
16	1.00	8:59	135	73.0	89	5	0	1.451
17	1.00	8:59	134	72.1	89	23	0	1.462
18	1.00	8:55	136	73.8	89	12	0	1.451
19	1.00	8:53	133	71.3	89	0	0	1.490
20	1.00	9:00	133	71.3	89	0	1	1.470
21	1.00	9:05	137	74.6	89	0	15	1.414
22	1.00	9:02	141	77.9	90	0	4	1.382
23	0.01	8:53	141	77.9	89	0	0	1.248
Sum:	22.01	9:16	127	66.4	88	115	110	1.495

Some drift up in HRs did occur but less than usual. The average HR was 127 which is crazy low (for me) for a 9:16 pace...only 66.4% of my working heart range.  In fact in looking over all my runs from 20 to 24 miles this run is almost tied for 1st place for efficiency (i.e. pace vs HR or YPB (YardsPerBeat). 


Just as important was the fact that my muscles were not as toasted as they normally would be after a run like this: the strength and weight training, running drills,  hill sprints and fast running is paying off it seems 8). 


The AT was there..not painful but sore after the 22 miles. The ice soaking did the usual trick. (NEW TIP: after your hot shower, put the doggies back in the ice water again to cool them back down..the cold-hot-cold seems to really help even more.)


Given some rested legs, fellow racers, good crowd support, decent weather and the CIM course I think have a very good shot at sub-4 hours. 


The trick now is to make it to the starting line. i.e. not get injured or sick in the last two weeks!


CIM week 2 next.