Long Long Run

Sunday 11 Oct 2009:
I had planned to do 12 miles today and as per my running speed, I had estimated to complete this run in 2 hours timeframe. Last time I had run 9 miles was 2 weeks back and there was no running in between (a lot of excuses, none worth mentioning). I have only roughly 12 weeks left to complete my training and this also includes 2 weeks of tapering. Hence, I have to push hard. The only way out of this is try to run a little less than long run, but more than 1 hour runs (2 times) in a week followed by my target long run on weekends. I also plan to include speed work sessions later on.

I am always deprived of sleep, more to my mentality of not sleeping more even though I need it. I have in short trained my mind to wake up early in the morning even if I slept very late in night. This usually happens week after week. Hence, I decided on Saturday night that I need proper sleep in order to run efficiently on Sunday morning. I slept for a little over 8 hours and started my run at 9:30 AM. It was very windy with temp around 55 F. It was a good weather for a long run. I took my Garmin forerunner, put on the Nathan Water belt and head out for the run.

The initial 3 miles were very tough as I couldn't find the correct rhythm. I overshoot Heart Rate over 180 even before 1 mile completion and hence I had to stop intermittently at 1.25 miles and then at 2.5 miles. At completion of 3 miles, time was 33:30 minutes, slower than my target by 3:30 minutes. This is the time when I started pushing and to my surprise I was in rhythm. I ran non-stop for the next 3.5 miles, with completing mile 3-6 in 30 mins as per my target. I had to take a walk break for water and a big hilly road. I walked half of the hill and then started running again. On the way back, I took 2 breaks at 8.5 and 10.5 miles mark. I really pushed myself from 8.5 miles onwards and completed the 12 mile run in 2 hours and 9 mins. I was very happy with the total outcome i.e. completing the last 6 miles in close to 58 mins. The run went pretty well, except the high struggling part between 10 - 12 miles.
Miles: 12
Average HR - 172
Average Speed - 5.6

Monday 12 Oct 09:
I had planned to run 2 recovery miles on Monday, but couldn't do it. I am always scared of running in rain for 2 reasons
1> Getting my shoes wet causing problems the next day/run. I probably need more pair of shoes or a spray for waterproofing my shoes.
2> Getting all wet is a totally unknown experience to me. Hence, I am scared of getting sick due to running in rain and I don't want to ruin my other runs as well as long runs over weekend.
Hence, zero recovery miles on Monday evening.
I am desperately trying to switch from evening runs to morning runs, but first I have to learn to get to bed early in the night so that I am fresh for Morning runs.
Miles: 0

Tuesday 13 Oct 09:
I had planned to do a 6 mile run on Tuesday. The weather was perfect, very hot and humid for a run, but perfect since it was not raining. So, out I went. Same old story, initial 2-3 miles were very tough...no rhythm. I need to learn how to cope up with the initial miles. 3 miles completed in 32:50 minutes and the next 3 miles were completed in 30:30 minutes. I was happy with the second half, but first half was pathetic. I was happy to be able to run 6 miles within 2 days of a 12 mile run and confident that I would be able to cope up with the hard training ahead. Lets see how it goes.
One thing to note for sure is that the weather played havoc on me. I usually sweat a lot during my run, nothing new. But I had taken a limited stock of water and I was running low on that towards the end of the run. It was very humid and dehydrating today.
Miles: 6
Average HR: 172
Average Speed: 5.7

Wednesday 14 Oct 09:
As planned earlier, I desperately wanted to switch back to morning running. So, here it was. I had planned to run an easy 3 - 4 miles as I just ran 6 miles the previous day and had plans to run another 5-6 miles on Thursday morning. I woke up at 6 AM, freshen up and was out of home around 6:50 AM. I had thought to do 4 miles if things look good, otherwise settle for 3 miles. I ended up with 3 mile run only because the legs were pretty heavy due to small gap ( approx 10 hours). I completed the 3 mile run in 31:26 minutes and was still happy about it. The weather was very cold, I had to change my T-shirt to suit the weather. I was happy to switch to morning time because it was more colder and raining too in the evening.
Mile: 3
Average HR: 161
Average Speed: 5.7