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!