My longest run and some random thoughts

Triathlon Forum
1

So i had a long run planned for sat, and wanted to push the distance a bit.
plan was to run from home, along a bike path up to wissahickon park (for those familure with philly) and run the trails there for the middle of the run, then back.

getting there and back would put me at a min of 10 miles, plus whatever i ended up doing in the park. Had no real plans for pace, would let my legs decide how i felt and go from there.

Took 1 gel with me and had a place to stop for a water stop around half way.

legs felt good and i settled into a comfortable 7:20 pace for the first 5 miles not wanting to overdo it while things were still fresh. after i turned around i slowly picked up the speed and started cruising home. along the way back there is a set of mile markers with marks ever 400m. i went through the last 5k before my cool down in 19:12 and felt great, nothing hurt, nothing really sore.

ended the run at 17.2 miles and an ave pace of 6:52. about an hour later now, bottoms of my feet are a tiny bit sore, not sure if that was the length of the run or the rocks through the middle 5 miles of the run though.

the middle 10 miles went by vary fast, and waiting to speed up was a good move on my part, as once i did things felt effortless. It was awesome jsut getting into a zone like that and going. It was like once i warmed up i pushed the play button and the run was on/

for those that hate running, some longer runs like this can go a long
way in changing your mind, its an amazing feeling just getting lost in
a run like this!

2

Good for you. Bottle up your feeling & memories, re-open on race day when things are not so easy.

3

mmm I love long runs. Have one planned for my birthday Sat. :slight_smile:

4

“for those that hate running, some longer runs like this can go a long way in changing your mind, its an amazing feeling just getting lost in a run like this!”

It’s sort of a Catch-22 though…to get to the point where you can have runs like that, you have to run a lot. It’s not just a physical condition, but mental as well. For someone who hasn’t logged the miles, it is impossible to describe the feeling, and no amount of ipods, special shoes, or beeping gadgets will get them there.

5

long runs at times are quite enjoyable but at the same time things can go quite wrong…

Since I started doing mine on single track trails, the time has flown by and in the end they are even more enjoyable… But I would have to say that the long run tends to be my favorite workout.

6

i deff agree here, i used to HATE running. its taken a while, and a lot of running to get to this point and to like it.

That said i have always enjoyed the trail running and try to do all my longer runs, and a lot of other ones there.