Long Run Part II

Yesterday was my long run and I was happy with the results for the most part.  I had a 7:15 pace through 15 miles but then my left achilles started to hurt and my right knee was pounding too.  I think my main problem was the fact that it was like 15 degrees and my muscles never seemed to loosen up.

So, I learned that I run better in temperatures above freezing.  No surprise there.

The other thing I realized as I was going over the run afterward is I need to work on my endurance by simply putting in more time on my feet.  When Michelle and I were training for St. George last fall I did my long runs on Saturday and her long runs on Sunday.  The Sunday runs were great for me to learn to run tired at a pace that wouldn't kill me.

Michelle and I normally run together on Sunday because we are both signed up for the Pocatello 50 race on Memorial day.  I am doing the 50 miler and she is doing the 20 miler.  So, to work on my endurance I got up early and left the house before she got out of bed then told her to pick me up on the way.  It was 5:51 and 17 degrees.  Now that I have a headlamp there is no need to go in Jedi stealth mode like I normally do.  My only goal was to keep moving and whatever pace my body felt was right would be fine.  Today that was 10:00 per mile.  I got about 4 miles in the dark before Michelle caught up with me.

I told her when I got in the car that I am convinced that going for her long run on Sundays last fall was one of the keys to my success.  I told her she was more important to my running than she knew!  She gave me a funny look and I attempted to recover by saying 'allow me to rephrase'.  You know how important you are to me and I just wanted you to know.  She smiled one of those, that's better, kind of smiles.

 So we ended up going to Wilson Creek out south of Nampa and going on the trails for another 7.5 miles which was fun.  We saw the wild horses and there was a new colt in the bunch we hadn't seen before that was brand new.