First Long Run of the Training Program

OK - It's not such a big deal for me to do an 8 miler on a weekend morning...I do plenty of runs like these in my base training when I don't have a race coming up. However, this is week 1 of my marathon training, so it's definitely a milestone.

Today's weather was perfect for July. Overcast, temperatures in the high 60s and a little breeze. Awesome! So the weather would not slow me down or run me down this morning.

I felt pretty good when I woke up this morning - not coughing and not as weak as Friday and Saturday mornings - but still not 100%. I went out for the run anyhow, with the following plan - keep it slow and if my HR goes over 160 walk to bring it back down.

I ended up taking walk breaks every 2 miles. Most of the time it was during uphill stretches where my HR kept elevating.

My legs started to get pretty sore around mile 5...I definitely need to get a pair of new shoes - my current ones have over 350 miles on it.

In the end it wasn't too bad - 7.63 miles, 1:26:14 - an 11:19/mile pace with average HR of 154.