This morning I woke up early and met with my friend Daniel to do a 20 mile run at Kennesaw mountain. Daniel is a more gifted runner than I so it is always a task to go the distance with him - but it provides good motivation for the tough long runs.
The Kennesaw trails are mostly rolling with a few longer climbs here and there, but nothing major. It is mostly double track and well groomed with not a lot of roots and rocks. The leaves are just beginning to change so the run was very scenic along with the orange hues provided by the crystal clear sun rise that greeted us in the first few miles.
My rules for my long runs are as follows: 1. Slow down. 2. Your probably going out to fast so slow down. 3. Slow down. These are my rules not Daniels, he was nice enough to humor me through most of the run at the easy going pace of 8:30. My plan for the Rocket City Marathon is to log five runs of twenty miles. In order to accomplish this and not have my body fall apart, they need to be run at 30 to 90 seconds above my goal pace for the race. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing we ran the last hour of the 2h 50min excursion around 8:10-8:15's. I was ok with it because I felt fantastic and we were very conservative in the first half of the run. My recent long runs at the slower pace seem to be paying off. My legs are not giving out on me quite so early in the 2+ hour efforts.
So I've got two twenty milers down, and three to go. The idea of running a Marathon this fall is more an endeavor of self discovery rather than a quest for speed. I'm trying to figure out how to train and fuel myself to develop the best training and race plan for an Ironman finish. What does my body respond to the best to keep it going for as long as possible? I'm figuring it out one long effort at a time.
No comments:
Post a Comment