Great Long Run!

Yesterday, I failed to get to the gym for my scheduled workout. I will try to get that done on Sunday instead. I did do the full ab battery of exercises here at home, though, using the fitball. I also did my "practice" pre-race eating routine on Friday (turkey sandwich at lunch, pasta at night). Can't hurt to make sure that food ritual still works for me on the long run.

Today, Marci, Alex, Frank and I gathered at RunTex at 6:00 for our long run. We were joined by Jan, Bridget, Volel, Shannon and one other person, who were planning on shorter long runs, but would accompany us at least to our mile 8 mark. We took off. Weather was partly clear, but nice and cool. Probably mid-50's. At about the one mile mark, Volel had a leg problem, and turned back for RunTex. He's been battling injury, and his calf just wouldn't let him go today. We rolled on. By 1.5 miles into the run, I looked back, and couldn't see Shannon and the other woman running with us. Since there were two of them, we guessed that they had adopted a slightly slower pace. Through the pre-dawn darkness we went, chatting away and generally enjoying the morning. Bridget and Marci pulled ahead of us, with Alex, and Frank, Jan and I forming a second group. Not too much distance between, but it would grow to 50 yards or so.

Our group took a quick 10 second water stop, and then Marci's group took one ahead of us, so we played leapfrog for a while. We finally got synched up at about mile 5. First 5 splits were very good: 9:55, 9:00, 8:58, 9:15, 9:05. We were moving right along. We made our first full stop at about 6.75 miles, took a GU, and after an efficient 1:53 stop, we were back on track. Our pace through that point was 9:09/mile.

We did one more mile on the trail, and then Jan and Bridget turned for home, and the four of us remaining turned up under Mopac for the rolling trip up to Enfield. We started picking up the pace considerably here, and I had to concentrate to stay with the faster folks through the tougher stretches of that path. I recovered pretty quickly, though, and we reached the second and last full Powerade stop at 9.5 miles. Our overall pace had dropped to 9:03/mile. We hydrated a bit (1:33 stop), and then we were off for the homestretch run.

The course was rolling hills for a mile or so, and then it was much more moderate from there to the finish. Our new quicker pace continued, even through the hills. As we turned from Enfield to Lake Austin Blvd, we were nearly taken out by a motorcycle hugging the inside blind corner. Marci took the scariest view of the oncoming cycle, and it took a while for her breathing to return to normal. Our miles were now 8:50, 8:40, so we were accelerating a good bit. When we reached the Mopac bridge, with 2 miles to go, Alex, Frank and Marci pulled ahead of me a bit, but I was still running hard. My last miles were 7:55, 7:50, and then a half mile at 7:44. So, I finished up a 14.15 mile run with a hard stretch at or near my current 10k race pace. Excellent! I didn't finish that far behind the faster folks, and I have them to thank for the very solid run that we did. My HR didn't go totally crazy on those last few miles, either, so that was encouraging as well. Overall, 14.15 miles, 8:47/mile overall pace. Maybe too fast? Or, should I rethink my half marathon race goals? :)

We did 5 striders afterwards, and these felt a lot better and smoother than the ones after last week's Mt. Bonnell run. The MarleyFest was setting up at Auditorium Shores while we were striding, which is a funny juxtaposition of activities. On the one hand, presumably pot-smoking reggae fans and musicians, and on the other, seriously non-smoking runners. At least it amused me to think of this.

Back at the RunTex parking lot, a large crowd of Gazelles had gathered for the post-run stretching routine (and free breakfast tacos! Thanks, Mario!). The usual groaning and laughing ensued, but the stretching really makes a difference.

A trip into RunTex to use my Capitol 10k merchandise coupon followed, where I scored 3 pair of my favorite CoolMesh Wright Sox as well as a new running shirt for the warmer weather to come.

It was yet another great day, and I think I'm basically ready for the Indy Mini Marathon right now. I've got a pace run and some speedwork to do next week, then a 5K race on Sunday. After that, it's a short 2 week taper. Back to the gym on Sunday for cycling and weights.