When I was talking to God around mile 14, he told me, "Nice work. We'll talk again in a couple of weeks."
Wow. I will be happy to have a few more runs like this on my legs before Fargo. Good lord. I would put this run right up against this 22 miler from last year, no question. The big difference is, that 22 miler took me three days or so to recover from, and I can tell you right now, I'll bounce back from this run in one, without sore legs, cramping, etc. After the 22, I could barely walk and my calves were seizing up so badly, I couldn't even take a nap in the afternoon several hours after finishing. Not the case at all today. Pretty cool. On a side note, the 22 miler was done 68 days before Twin Cities Marathon, which I didn't run due to injury. Today is day 69 before Fargo. Neat.
Anyway, on to the workout. 10 miles in just under 6:30 pace average, right at 143-145 HR. I tried to keep it at 6:35, but just naturally slipped into a better rhythm around 6:30, and since I was hitting the right heart rate range, I went with it. Fairly tired overall, which probably had more to do with being restless on Thursday night than yesterday's workout. The legs handled the pace easily, but my brain seemed to be urging me to go back to sleep. 10 miles in 1:05:16.
Here is the breakdown of the MP miles:
5:52(158) | 5:53(159) | 5:53(159) | 5:52(159) | 5:51(160) | 5:49(162)
Starting the MP miles turned out to be a nice change for the first two. The faster pace seemed to wake up my brain and the effort felt better than the 6:30s for about 2.5 miles. The real work started shortly after that, and quickly turned into the workout I expected. Mile three was a sharp contrast, mile four was the toughest, and included working through a side stitch, miles five and six felt somewhat better, but with heavier breathing than the rest. While I wasn't anxious to keep going, I felt like I could have made 2-3 more miles before an uncontrollable fade. The legs were on autopilot, and the real effort was in maintaining focus. I was shooting for 5:55 pace, but again, 5:52 is about where I felt comfortable, and slowing down three seconds per mile is a bit too fine to govern. The last two miles I tried to key in on staying strong and maintaining to the finish while my form started to slip. The 5:49 was not intentional, and based on how happy I was to be finishing this workout, I'm just happy I controlled myself so it didn't turn into a 5:39. Heart rate recovered to 120 in 1:02, and to 110 in 2:06.
I thought of a good name for these Mystery Coach signature back-to-back runs. The first is the Fatigue UNderlayment run. These are great--the effort is strong, controlled, and relaxed. FUN. The next day is the Fatigue Underlayment Conversion Run. Figure out the acronym for that one yourselves. If you've run a marathon before, finishing one of these runs reminds you of something in the mile 20-22 range. If you've never run a marathon before, you hope you never feel like you did during one of these runs during the race, even though you realize that you will, and it will be an order of magnitude more painful.
Props to my wife, who is starting her own back-to-back run today. I opened the door following my run and was greeted by the wafting odeur of freshly baked chocolate chip scones. I swear I heard a chorus of angels and a nice little four-piece string symphony in the background as well. Probably just in my head, though. The scones were amazing. Thanks, honey!
Sweet relief...recovery run tomorrow. Have a good weekend everyone!
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Four miles really easy in the afternoon. Sunny and 37F, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run in shorts again. Spring is her...er, near. I was also able to get a leg massage and a solid nap in this afternoon, which should be great for recovery.
Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury
2 comments:
I was biting my nails wondering how this one would go. Well done Eric, you are going into these back to back runs with clearly more stamina than I had when I was in a similar (but slower) position. Nice to get this out of the way so you can enjoy the weekend.
Thanks, Mike. Without question, these are very challenging efforts. I looked back at your first go 'round with these, and I could have copied and pasted that entry as my own. Eerily similar.
I very nearly put this run off until the afternoon, thinking 35+F would have been better than the 15F this morning. Fortunately, Cindy talked me out of that idea. I'm glad I got it out of the way early.
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