I had to get up at 5:30am for work. I had a wedding from 7-11am and then headed to beautiful Sauvie Island to meet Chuck for my run:) Weather forcasted rain all day....which is what we've had ALL week but it was SUNNY!! and WARM!! I mean REALLY warm.
I packed long sleeves and my winter tights so I was cooking after 4 miles and had to take my long sleeve shirt off and run in my sports bra! (yikes!).
I took my gels 2hrs before and then my amazing UCAN drink right before we ran.
if you have not tried the UCAN sports energy drink before long runs, you NEED to. simply amazing....and right now they are all 25% off for another week and half so TAKE ADVANTAGE!.
you want the SPORTS DRINK MIX, not the protein one. ....protein one is better for AFTER.
Anyway...Chuck (the lovely man running with me in my header photo) hasn't run much lately...
so he wasn't sure how he'd do 16 miles but he was such a trooper. Keep in mind this man ran a world class time for the 3,000m a few years ago. he is INCREDIBLE.
We started out and I planned to just run how I could. My coach told me that if I didn't feel I could do a progression run to just do a 16 easy run.
I agreed, but for some dumb reason I am FAR too competitive with myself and I felt like I had something to prove to myself today. I just wanted to know I still have it!! after these 11min miles this week I have been a little bit worried.
We started out and to be honest, we accidentally ran those first few miles way too fast...they were 8:04 and 7:51 for first 2 miles...but it was too late so I just kept going with it.
My fastest miles were mile 5, 10 and 16....wasn't a very well executed "progression" run b/c by mile 12 I was feeling DONE. But again..being the crazy obsessive women I am, I refused to quit or give in. None of my miles went over 7:45 after that and my last mile was 7:05.
I finished in 1:59:49 which is a 7:29 mile:):):)
Not as good as my 15 miler a month ago, BUT it was at the END of my cycle of training when I was peaking and this is at the beginning so I feel GREAT!!!!
all the way home I felt like I was going to throw up, but instead I came home, ate 2 grilled cheese sandwiches at the Grilled Cheese Grill , drank a PEPSI (my FAVORITE!!) and then had frozen yogurt at YOCREAM covered in Reeses Peanut Butter cups:):)
BLISS.
So...I feel pretty good and optimistic.
I did feel today like 16 was FAR:( and next saturday I have 20!!! I am thinking an 8:15 pace is a good goal for the 20miler:) and maybe a 3:25 is a bit more realistic for my marathon:)
Mile splits from todays run:
Mile 1: 8:04
Mile 2: 7:51
Mile 3: 7:38
Mile 4: 7:33
Mile 5: 7:14
Mile 6: 7:19
Mile 7: 7:26
Mile 8: 7:24
Mile 9: 7:21
Mile 10: 7:14
Mile 11: 7:23
Mile 12: 7:23
Mile 13: 7:37
Mile 14: 7:41
Mile 15: 7:38
Mile 16: 7:05
I was pretty consistent from Mile 5-mile 12, but you can see I struggled in miles 13,14 and 15...but pulled it together at the end:)
AND....this is my biggest week since I started training 6mos ago: 54 miles so YAY!!!