Longest Yet

For those reading, my apologies for waiting so long in between posts. My work schedule has been insane since Christmas break. I've been in Columbus, GA working at Ft Benning. I managed to get time off from work this weekend which allowed for me to pick up the pieces of the lost training opportunities during the week. The only workout I logged this past week was a slow 5-miler on the hotel treadmill on Tuesday. With yesterday off, I spent an hour on the stationary bike. My intent was just to get a decent workout in without wearing myself out. Because I knew today would be the longest run of my life.

In addition to my longest run, this was also one of my favorite runs in a long time. This is because I got to run completely along a river for the first time since I ran the Mississippi in Iowa for my first half marathon. This time, the river separated Alabama and Georgia. I ran a 14 mile out-and-back route of 7 miles. And whats more is that I exceded my expectations for speed. I beat my goal of an 8:30 pace and squeezed out an 8:29 average. And per Jack Fultz's instructions, I ran the second half a good clip faster than my first.

I drank only 2 fuel-belt bottles and ate one Gu pack along the way. The temperature was about 32 deg (better than Massachusetts' 5 deg today). But I faced a pretty good head wind on the return path. Cardiovascularly, I felt spectacular. My legs felt a bit heavy into the wind from 8 or 9 miles on. But all and all I was quite pleasantly surprised. I believe the next long wind is actually a shorter distance, at 12 miles.

I know this next week will be another very long one on base. My hopes are to just get 2 decent medium runs in.

I have no data to share this week because I don't have my Garmin dock to upload the run. When I get home, I'll try to compile some more intersting stats, including total milage to date etc. Reef, that's for you.

Thanks for reading!