A 16 mile inspiration
Saturday night I planned a longer run at least 75 minutes (after a 75 minute, 9 mile run on Thursday), and inspiration was with me, felt good and kept going a full 2 hours 4 minutes 4 seconds! (Just a few minutes short of the fastest marathon times).
I followed my mile interval course and scribbed down times for each mile marker, actually at the start I memorized for a while. It was easy at first since I was just over a 7 minute mile, so minutes were multiples of 7 for a while and I just remembered the seconds slowly shifting forward.
Here's a graph of the run:
You may be unimpressed by my loss of speed near the end, but the last 3 miles were purely tests. I knew the 13 mile mark was NEAR a half marathon so I slowed after that, and knew 16 miles was just over 25k.
My "test" and slowdown are not entirely known. Some slow down stages was due to responding to various little pains, but the slow down after 11 miles was basically all due a loss of strength. I felt fine in breathing and overall body energy, but my legs just didn't have the power I had when I started, so I responded by using less power and smaller steps.
I can say the speed of the last 2 miles was a "cool-down" phase, although it was in the mid-40F by then and I wasn't overly warm. My heart ended at 120 beat/minute, and breathing very calm. In fact that calmness was what allowed me to keep going as I did. If I did need to keep going, I could have kept up the 7mph+ speed on mile 14, but I don't know what the long term consequences of that would be - risks of injury.
I stretched a fair amount a few minutes after finishing, and getting indoors where it was warmer. I also determined I lost 3.5lb of water during the run, actually more, since I was measuring full-clothes start/end, and my shirt and sweatshirt were holding a nontrivial amount of water. I feel okay today, taking it easy, leg muscles a bit stiff but comfortable slow walking.
Who can say but perhaps I'll never run 16 miles again?! It seemed a glorious effort, and I finished the week with 41 miles - 3.4, 7.1, rest, 5.0, 9.7, rest, 16.0 - 5 running days, 2 rest days. Total 6 hours, 32.6 minutes, average 7.43 mph.
15k race in 2 weeks from yesterday. I feel good about knowing what pace I can set and no longer fear getting out of breath. Like when I started, I'm overall more limited by muscle coordination and endurance than air or energy.
I guess that's what Training is about - still mysterious to imagine I can improve with training. I'd imagine there's a relatively fast improvement at first and then diminishing returns. Since I have no clear goals, I don't care much about improving much beyond feeling good yesterday.
I feel blessed.
I followed my mile interval course and scribbed down times for each mile marker, actually at the start I memorized for a while. It was easy at first since I was just over a 7 minute mile, so minutes were multiples of 7 for a while and I just remembered the seconds slowly shifting forward.
Here's a graph of the run:
You may be unimpressed by my loss of speed near the end, but the last 3 miles were purely tests. I knew the 13 mile mark was NEAR a half marathon so I slowed after that, and knew 16 miles was just over 25k.
My "test" and slowdown are not entirely known. Some slow down stages was due to responding to various little pains, but the slow down after 11 miles was basically all due a loss of strength. I felt fine in breathing and overall body energy, but my legs just didn't have the power I had when I started, so I responded by using less power and smaller steps.
I can say the speed of the last 2 miles was a "cool-down" phase, although it was in the mid-40F by then and I wasn't overly warm. My heart ended at 120 beat/minute, and breathing very calm. In fact that calmness was what allowed me to keep going as I did. If I did need to keep going, I could have kept up the 7mph+ speed on mile 14, but I don't know what the long term consequences of that would be - risks of injury.
I stretched a fair amount a few minutes after finishing, and getting indoors where it was warmer. I also determined I lost 3.5lb of water during the run, actually more, since I was measuring full-clothes start/end, and my shirt and sweatshirt were holding a nontrivial amount of water. I feel okay today, taking it easy, leg muscles a bit stiff but comfortable slow walking.
Who can say but perhaps I'll never run 16 miles again?! It seemed a glorious effort, and I finished the week with 41 miles - 3.4, 7.1, rest, 5.0, 9.7, rest, 16.0 - 5 running days, 2 rest days. Total 6 hours, 32.6 minutes, average 7.43 mph.
15k race in 2 weeks from yesterday. I feel good about knowing what pace I can set and no longer fear getting out of breath. Like when I started, I'm overall more limited by muscle coordination and endurance than air or energy.
I guess that's what Training is about - still mysterious to imagine I can improve with training. I'd imagine there's a relatively fast improvement at first and then diminishing returns. Since I have no clear goals, I don't care much about improving much beyond feeling good yesterday.
I feel blessed.
posted by Ares Olympus at 5:49 PM
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