Long Run: Scenic, Bonnell, Bonnell again, and Back

After last weekend's race, it was time to get back to long run training for Freescale this weekend. Gilbert chose the Mt. Bonnell run again, with the added twist of going over Bonnell, down towards RR 2222, turning around at the Dry Creek Saloon (more on that later), and going up the backside of Bonnell before doing the rest of the Scenic route and going back to RunTex. It's a really hilly route (duh!), but strangely I wasn't excessively worried about it. We just do what Gilbert asks us to do, to the best of our ability, and it's obviously paying big racing dividends.

It was a nice crisp, clear morning, temps in the very low 60's. We got going pretty close to 6:00, ready to run. We're still sort of finding our groups, but I think my group is more or less settled, with Volel, Amy, Jennifer, Brian, Charlene, Bob and Shannon (when she can run on Saturdays). The aforementioned gang started forming up during the first mile, except for Shannon, who ran long yesterday, and Volel, who ran up ahead for a while with some faster folks. We had a "guest Gazelle" today, Laura from Abilene, who was in town for the weekend. It's truly flat land where she lives, so this run would be a dramatic change for her. Richard was scheduled to meet up with us at the Mopac bridge, but I guess he took off with a slightly faster group. No worries. We got Volel back at the Mopac bridge, though, so our gang was ready for the rest of the run. Easy going to the first water stop at Red Bud Trail, and after a quick GU and water, we were off again. Thus ends the flat portion of the festivities.

Splits miles 1-3.8: 10:11, 9:14, 9:12, .77 miles at 9:15 pace. Overall, 9:28/mile pace.

Entering the Scenic loop and heading to the first topping of Mt. Bonnell, we picked up the pace a little, which doesn't make sense considering the terrain, but that's what happened. Laura was anxious about going up Bonnell, but we kept telling her it would be okay. Just find a climbing gear, and hang on. All the rest had done Bonnell at least once lately, so everyone just settled down for the big climb. I was feeling pretty strong, and pushed up the Bonnell climb fairly hard. Everyone else did a good job, too, and we all met up at the Gatorade cooler at the foot of the observation area steps in short order. Laura was doing 14 miles today, so she hooked up with another group to run home. We all took a GU, I think, along with some water, and soon enough got going down the other side of Bonnell for the additional miles. So far, so good.

Splits miles 4-7: 8:50, 8:48, 8:46, .35 miles at 9:28/mile pace (actual Mt. Bonnell climb). Overall pace running down to 9:11/mile. With first water stop time included (1:52), overall pace slipped to 9:27/mile. HR numbers, except for a few short spikes on some of the hill climbs, right in the long run zone. Cool.

We rolled down the backside of Bonnell, down the steep and twisting road, headed for the Dry Creek Saloon. I've always thought it was an abandoned building, but it turns out that it's a dive of a bar, where the lady who runs it sort of opens it when she feels like it. It's one of those "Austin Things," and I'm sorry I didn't know about it. You get your next beer when you return the empty bottle from the first one to the bar (you've got to pay for them, of course). I'm told that it's not the cleanest place around, but the beer is cold, so what more do you need? We hit the flatter part of the extra piece, passed Gilbert and a bunch of other Gazelles coming the other way, and then I conned everyone into adding a tenth of a mile or so to our outward loop, to get the mileage for the day closer to 16. Surprisingly, they all accepted the "extra credit" assignment, and we turned around a while later, where the flat part ended. I think that the backside ascent of Bonnell is a tiny bit easier than the front, only in that there's a longer portion that isn't as steep. It's more fiendish, though, because with the twisting road, you can't get a clear idea of where the top of the hill is until you're pretty much on it. Again, I was feeling strong, and pushed hard to the Gatorade cooler a little ways ahead. This was a much longer water stop, but I think that's because part of the time was in waiting on everyone to gather up again and get another drink. No problem, though. The worst hills were now done, but there was still a good bit of hilly running to go. Just no more mountains.

Splits miles 8 and 9: 8:56, 8:57. Overall, pace down to 9:08. With first two water stops included, pace dropped to 9:36/mile.

We rolled down Balcones Woods, pushed up the hill on 35th Street, passing a couple of training groups on that road, and turned onto Exposition. At this point, Brian, Volel, Charlene and I formed a lead pack, and Amy, Jennifer and Bob were just behind us in their own group. I saw Pete coming "backwards" up Exposition as he did his last medium sort of run before NYC in a couple of weeks. It's always good to see him, which is less frequent than it used to be because I switched to a different weekday schedule. We were doing a fair bit of talking on Exposition, and the time passed quickly. Again, we picked up the pace a little more, and I know that Volel was glad when the last hills were done. One more Powerade stop at the O. Henry Middle School, and a GU for me, and it was time for the 3 mile "faster running" finish that Gilbert prescribed for today. After making sure that everyone had made it that far, I took off, ready to get finished. My legs were a little tired from all the hills, especially my quads, but I still felt pretty good. What kind of 3 mile push could I make?

Splits miles 10-12.4: 8:51, 8:36, 8:15, .3 miles at 8:17/mile pace. Overall, down to 8:59/mile. With first three water stops included, slowed to 9:39/mile. Not bad!

Volel quickly took a lead going the last three miles, so I settled into a steady but accelerated pace for the last piece of the run. It got crowded when we hit the trail, and I had to do a good bit of dodging around large running groups, strollers and walkers. It's their trail, too, so it wasn't an anger management situation, just another challenge for the run home. I'd draft behind a group and then would dart around them when the trail cleared enough to allow it. I can deal with that. Sooner than I thought, I was done, and it was a fine day's work at the running office. Alex and his gang were at the water coolers at the finish, along with Jan, who had just finished her 4 miler (she's a couple of weeks past Chicago, so it'll be another week or two before she returns to the regular workouts). It was good to see everyone, of course.

Splits mile 13-15.6: 7:59, 7:46, 7:54. Very solid accelerated miles at the end of a hard run, I think. I'm very pleased with this one. Overall running pace 8:45/mile. With all the water stops included, a still very strong 9:28/mile. Final distance 15.6 miles, 2:16:44 running time.

We did 5x100m striders on the grass there, and then met up with everyone else (a huge mob!) for stretching alongside RunTex. We may have to find a different location for that soon! I changed out of the wet shirt into the extremely flourescent Indy 500 Half Marathon training shirt, and got some teasing about that. Alex reports that even with his shades on, the shirt was too bright. Cool. Stretching was fun, and I really needed it after today's run.

I joked around and chatted with Pete, Alex and Tracy, and then it was time to call it a day. I had to make big changes to my drive home due to the Ride for the Roses bicycle race downtown this morning, but that was okay. I picked up the cooler from Mt. Bonnell, and a long running day was done. This was another good run on the way to Freescale, and I'm starting to gain a little confidence that I'm making good progress in my running. The weight training and better adherence to the training plan is paying off. Now, I've just got to keep it up for 4 more months. :-)