Redemption

Hi y'all! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, mine started this morning with only 1 goal in mind...
Redmeption, I was going to own this run today and show last weeks 15 who is boss. Mission Accomplished.


In hopes of avoiding the major catastrophe that occured last weekend, I decided that a few changes needed to be made to help ensure a strong run. I opted for a little differnt pre-run meal in hopes of getting a little more energy, I have been doing a poor job of fueling the last few weeks, and I really need to get it corrected. Also, instead of using the new route I did last weekend, I stuck with my old faithfuls: 10 mile out-and-back and a 6 mile loop. I love these routes, I know them well, I run them all the time, I don't crash on these routes, so I hoped the familiarity would help keep me strong.


So per usual I was up at 4 and out by 5. The run was already broken down into 3 parts, 5/5/6, and I needed to do at least 6 miles at 9:30 pace or lower. The first 5 were easy, I worked to keep them as easy as possible, and slowed myself down once or twice to try and keep some energy to finish strong unlike last week. These five were good, steady, and conservative, a perfect run thus far.

Mile 1-  9:58
Mile 2-  9:58
Mile 3-  9:58
Mile 4-  9:57
Mile 5-  9:51

I had decided to have a bottle of gatorade interspearsed with my water this morning. I felt myself needing to drink less to feel hydrated and the gatorade kept my energy level high, it was wonderful, and I will be using it every long run from now on. I was able to pick up the pace for the next 5 miles back to the starting point, and it was the confidence I needed at that point.

Mile 6-  9:38
Mile 7-  9:40
Mile 8-  9:24
Mile 9-  8:58 --> Not quite sure what happened here, but it came naturally
Mile 10-  9:15

After Mile 10 I stopped to refill my water and take a gu, I was worried it was what caused last weekend's stomach issues, but no problems today. It definitely gave me the energy for the last 6 and I actually noticed it starting to fade at about 5.5, good to know it was working and help give me a good time parameter as to how frequently I should actually be taking them.


I actually did the first 10 miles with no ipod- too dark and scary, so I was excited to actually get a distraction for the last 6 miles. Since I ideally want my goal pace miles to be at 9:30 or less I told myself I needed to get 3 more in under 9:30 pace to have a true success. Despite tired legs at this point, I nailed the last 6, once I got started it took a few minutes to get back to speed, but I just kept going, because I knew once I stopped I would not be able to start again.

Mile 11-  9:42
Mile 12-  9:34
Mile 13-  9:20
Mile 14-  9:31
Mile 15-  9:27
Mile 16-  9:13


16 Miles- 2:33:24, 9:35 avg pace
This 16 mile run was literally only 1 minute slower than my 15 mile run last weekend- the difference between success and failure, and I consider today to be a huge success. This has been my longest run ever, and I managed to hit all miles at the times I wanted and finished with 11 miles at/below my hopeful marathon pace.

Sweet Redemption is mine, I feel a small bout of confidence now for my next step up in 2 weeks. Now time to start focusing on my race for next weekend.