The long run

I set out this morning with some good momentum at my back, and the day turned out even better than I could've expected. In the back of my mind I still expect disaster when I put my running shoes on. Pretty much every time I've returned from a run over the last 3 or 4 weeks Ali will ask me "How'd it go?" and I'll say something along the lines of "It went well, actually." The word actually being the key one in that response. I'm still getting accustomed to things taking a serious turn for the better.

I put together my longest run since last June and busted out 16.4 miles. Most of the run was easy, zone 1 or 2 HR, with 20 minutes at zone 3-- not dissimilar to last week's longer one. I was comfortably moving along in the heat at just under 7:00 pace until I hit 5 miles, which, like last week, is when I decided to put in that little extra burst of effort. I ran the next few miles at about a 5:52ish average, which included some hills and plenty of bright open sunlight. I was stoked when I finished it, feeling quite spry and like I could've done another one. I stuck with the plan though and reminded myself that if I stuck it out for the whole planned 1:45 I'd easily put in a lot more distance than I have in recent history. Not smart to push the heart rate and the longer distance on the same day, especially when I still consider myself pretty fragile. Here's a couple snapshots of my data in case anyone out there wants to nerd out a little bit.

Obviously I still have a long way to go. But these numbers will only get better. Holy moly I couldn't be happier with how this went today. It's really something I can hang my hat on.

In other fun news, Ali (she's an Occupational Therapist, aka OT) is taking a job in North Conway as a "traveler," which basically means she's temporarily going to work at a hospital up there for a 13 week stint. We won't see each other as often, which will be the worst part-- I'll see her on weekends and once during the week. All things considered though, it'll be a great gig for both of us for a lot of reasons. In terms of my running (this is a running blog, after all) it couldn't be a better setup. I am not-so-secretly thrilled at the prospect of using Jackson (where she'll be staying during this time) as a home base for some awesome mountain runs over the next few months. My plan is to go up there on Monday nights after work and wake up early on Tuesday and spend the whole morning/day running on the trails in the surrounding area. Easy access to the best trail running in the state.

The week ahead looks exciting. I'll keep this updated as I go along.

AH