Saturday, April 5, 2008

14 Miles

This was a stepback week - 14 miles for the long run (which is a lot shorter than the 18 miler last weekend and the 20 miler next weekend).  I took the route that I used for my 13 miler a few weeks ago and extended it a bit.  I ended up going 13.75 miles - it's close enough to 14 that I wasn't going to scramble for an extra quarter mile...plus many of my long runs have been a half to three-quarters of a mile longer than the planned mileage, so I'll give myself a break here.

I had planned to wake up at 6am and be out of the house by 6:30am.  For some reason I woke up at 4am with a lot of congestion - I was in and out of a light sleep from 4am to 6am when my alarm went off.  I kept on telling myself, "If I'm not asleep by 5am (and then 5:15am, and then 5:30am) I'll just get out of bed and start my run early..."  That never happened and I finally got out of bed at my alarm.

I had set the playlist in my iPod the night before with an upbeat "running mix".  However, that did not suit my mood this morning.  So - for a first in my marathon training - I fired up my computer before the run and changed the playlist on my iPod shuffle.  I chose a more mellow mix of Israeli tunes.

It was a nice morning - about 50 degrees and a bit foggy when I left the house.  I'm so psyched that Spring is here!

I ended up running a bit harder than I should have - my average heart rate was 159 and should be about 10 bpm lower.  For next week's long run I really need to work on taking it slower - even if it means my pace will be closer to 12:00/mile instead of 11:00/mile.  I know that if I train at the lower heart rate that I improve my aerobic fitness faster...it's just tough to slow down when you are in a groove.
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For you loyal blog readers - I won't be posting a blog entry tomorrow.  I'll be on the road with the Israeli Folkdance Troupe that I co-direct, so I won't have access to a computer.  I'll be back blogging on Monday!

1 comment:

Obi-Run Kenobi said...

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the link to the other half the first weekend in May, even though it's full too!

Even though there are extra spots in the Frederick Half, for some reason I thought it was on the 3rd rather than 4th so I couldn't have done even if I hadn't missed the cutoff. Such is my way with dates!

Sounds like the training is coming along. Keep on it!