Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Long Run Recaps

I've been so bad about keeping up with my blog. Training had been going well, up until this week. Tight Achilles tendon doesn't make for good training conditions. But... here's a look at my last few long runs:

12 miles
Mile 1: 10:18
Mile 2: 10:08
Mile 3: 10:14
Mile 4: 10:03
Mile 5: 9:51
Mile 6: 10:02
Mile 7: 9:49
Mile 8: 10:03
Mile 9-10: 19:53
Mile 11: 10:00
Mile 12: 10:07

I was a little disappointed with this run. It's within the 60-90 minutes slower than desired race pace, but I want to stay around the 9:40/mile pace. My goal is to break 4:00, and I'll work as hard as I can to make sure I get there!


10 Miles
Mile 1: 9:36
Mile 2: 9:37
Mile 3: 9:36
Mile 4: 9:31
Mile 5: 9:31
Mile 6: 9:32
Mile 7: 9:38
Mile 8: 9:30
Mile 9: 9:25
Mile 10: 9:30

I was much happier with these splits. It was a cool and rainy morning, not quite 70-degrees when I finished. The run felt great and I felt like I could definitely keep going. That's always a good feeling after a long run!


13 miles
Mile 1: 10:17
Mile 2-3: 19:30
Mile 4: 9:43
Mile 5: 9:26
Mile 6: 9:25
Mile 7: 9:34
Mile 8: 9:37
Mile 9: 9:45
Mile 10: 9:22
Mile 11: 9:27
Mile 12: 9:22
Mile 13: 9:36

Again, pleased with this run. It was raining and humid, but it seemed the faster the rain came down, the faster my splits were. Hmmm... should I hope for rain on race day? By the end of the run, my Achilles tendon was tight and sore. I streteched out well and put The Stick to good use.

But... I guess the damage had already been done. On Sunday, I took a rest day and hoped I'd be ready to go on Monday to resume training. On Monday, I did a slow 3 miles instead of the scheduled 4 miles. I was sore and did as much as I could with The Stick.

Yesterday was a hot stone massage, which really helped. Took the day off of running, although it killed me to do so. Feeling better this morning and hoping to get in a few miles (or get in some cardio at the gym) later today.

So, that's where I am with my road to the Chicago marathon. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll be back training SOON.