Saturday, February 6, 2010

Kenyan Way - First Long Run of Spring Training!!

What a fantabulous morning for a run!!!  It was perfect weather; 42 deg, low humidity, no wind...and I was feeling goooood before I even left the house, so I had high hopes even though I knew I was going to be attempting to run with a faster group and hang on for as long as I could...little did I know that I would do that and more...

Based upon my 3 mile time for the Turkey Trot, my schedule has me running much faster for training than I ever have before.  Target for long runs:  9:52 to 10:07 average pace...I set myself with the 4:15 group which calls for a pace of 10:10 to 10:40 training pace...I need to be running consistently with this group by the time actual marathon training starts up again, whether thats for NYC or Houston...hopefully both...then the hope is to begin running with the 4:00 group at that time...

I did 3 other things differently today...I used S-Caps instead of Endurolytes, and no gels.  I had Chomps.  The no gels thing and trying 'candy' instead is Coachs idea and I must say that not only did I not have any GI issues during the run, I didnt have them after either...The S-Caps are about 4 times the dose of Endurolytes, so I took one before I left the house and 1 at the 5 mile mark.  Too early to tell whether they made that big of a difference in my legs and performance, but indeed its better than taking 3-4 Endurolytes every hour :)  The other thing I did differently today was NO lollygagging at the water stops.  Get your drink and move along.  Nothing to see here.. :)

I stayed with the 4:15 group till the 5 mile turn as they were doing the whole route, so basically the way back I was alone.  During the first 5 miles I kept having to keep myself in check as I just wanted to GO! but I held back knowing full well that I would need that on the return to insure a negative split.  During the 5 miles I did very little talking; only listening as its faster than I am use to and again I wanted to make sure I kept all the energy inside me and for the run...because at the end of the day, this year is not so much about socializing on the long runs for me but getting to where I need to be, so focus and determination are important...

Here are the splits:
Mile 1: 10:51
Mile 2: 10:31
Mile 3: 10:30
Mile 4: 10:26
Mile 5:  10:21
Mile 6: 10:20
Mile 7: 10:06
Mile 8: 9:51
Mile 9: 9:40
Mile 10: 9:20

Now look at that!  Not only a negative split but a gosh darn progressive run too!!  And you know I wasnt really pushing till that last mile.  All I kept doing was trying to pass whoever was next in front of me.  At the last water stop, these 2 folks came up behind me, both who I recognized, but dont know the names, man and woman...the guy said to me "we thought we had you just back there, but then you pulled away and never looked back, no way we were going to catch you!"  Now NO ONE has ever said that to me...felt good to hear.  I laughed and said, lets go!  and I took off and you know I never looked back to see where they were, but I know they were no where near me :)

Just a FANTASTIC feeling of accomplishment today because those times are something I would normally try to hit at a race...and today I banged it out during a training run. 

I am extremely proud of today...I know that it wont always be this way, and as it gets hotter, it will be tougher and tougher, but today...yeah, I kinda rocked it.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Ok, this could be my blog entry EXACTLY. Just plug in some different splits. I'll post mine but I'll tell you, I had a very similar if not identical experience this morning.

Junie B said...

you know when i yelled your name as i was coming up on that water stop and you didnt wait for me, i thought "oh goody, he wants me to chase him!". You had a target on your back :)

TX Runner Mom said...

Way to go June (and Vic too)!

Eddie said...

Junie, no stop to chat at the water stops is good advice. My races improved when I incorporated that in my training. I started doing it because my knee would stiffen up if I rested too long but I soon figured out it is key. It may be a little hard in the summer but it really pays off in later stages of races.