Another Good Long Run

This morning, I had yet another really good long run. I know they won't all be like this, but it's sure nice to enjoy some good results after a long summer with some tough longer runs.

We met up at 6:00am today for a 13 mile tour of Town Lake and its surroundings. The pack was pretty big, in the 10-12 person range, for the initial part of the run. It was especially nice to have Shannon rejoin us after her recovery from stress fracture. She and Teek ran great, and Shannon mostly resisted the urge to kick it into a faster gear at the end.

We made four water/Powerade/GU stops during the journey, just because we could. The group splintered a bit after the first water stop at Holly Power Plant, and I ended up with Rachel, "other" Shannon, Emily, Tonya, Colleen, Jennifer and Sue after that. I don't remember for sure, but I think Javier stayed with us as well. We were moving along quite nicely, and as it turned out, I was in a very comfortable HR zone for a huge percentage of today's workout. I took a GU at Holly Power. We stopped again at I-35 where Gilbert had put out a table of stuff, and then cruised from there all the way to Mopac.

While we were getting water there, a bunch of folks turned back to RunTex for a 10 mile day. The rest of us took off north under Mopac for the extra 3 mile loop. That was interesting, as the sidewalk there on that trail has finally pulled away and crashed into the creek in some spots. You can still run along the path, but you have to be careful about your footing. It would be impossible in the dark or pre-dawn timeframes. We caught a small group of runners as we headed up to Enfield, including Marty, Leslie and Shannon, and gathered them up in our gang for the finish of the run.

The conversation was nice and light as we cruised up Enfield, then down Exposition to the last water/Powerade stop at O. Henry. I took my second GU there just for fun. After tanking up on fluids one last time, we headed for home. Gilbert had suggested a "fast finish" from O. Henry, so I started picking it up. I guess I was having a really good day, because I didn't have any pace buddies for the last 3 miles.

I was surprised to see my mile split at Mopac, and tried to just enjoy the good feeling and not try and judge my run before it was done. It didn't feel tremendously hard paced as I knocked out the last two miles on the trail, but it wasn't easy either. I did not look at the watch during the last couple of miles, just to preserve the surprise. It was the usual game of picking new people to chase down and pass, even if none of them were Gazelles. I noticed that the trail behind Zilker Park is going to be shut down during the Rolling Stones concert next Sunday evening, which I suppose is a normal security precaution, but that might cause some arguments next weekend. We'll see.

I finished really strong today, and ended up with a terrific long run. Yes, it was cooler today, maybe 69 or 70 degrees, but it wasn't a nice and brisk 50, either. It looks like things are coming together for me, and that's very encouraging.

The splits: 9:56, 8:55, 8:49, 0.78 miles at 8:58/mile pace, 1:48 water/GU stop, 8:56, 0.36 miles at 8:59 pace, 1:03 water/powerade stop, 9:02, 9:00, 0.89 miles at 8:51 pace, 1:15 water stop, 9:02, 0.78 miles at 8:51 pace, 2:03 water/Powerade/GU stop, then fast finish at 7:35, 7:36, 7:30, and 0.2 miles at 6:45 pace. 13.01 miles at 9:08/mile pace including all water stop time. Actual running pace a swift 8:40/mile.

My fast finish was pretty close to the same pace as my tempo run on Thursday. That probably says a lot more about the tempo race being well within my capabilities (read: "Should have run faster on Thursday") than about today's run, but it's a good sign nonetheless.

Gilbert prescribed 8 x 100m striders today, and they weren't too bad, really. The whole pace gang did very well today, so it was a successful workout for all concerned. The stretching was entertaining, and then the day was done.

I hung out for a while and chatted with Frank, Alex, Brad, Jan, Marcy and Brian about Chicago next week, but it's obvious that they are getting into that serious focus zone, and since my marathon is quite a ways away, it's sort of strange for me now. It will be nice after they finish at Chicago and rejoin the herd so we can all be together again. I am hopeful that a long list of race goals will be achieved in the Windy City next Sunday. At least the weather looks to be very nice as a long-range forecast...

For the week, almost 37 miles and 5 runs, so I'm in that decent mileage zone. It will pick up as a function of the increasing long runs, and I'll ease the recovery runs to 7 miles every time over the next week or so, so that's a few more miles there, too. Gradual does the trick.