I wanted to do twelve miles yeaterday. My schedule only calls for nine or eleven, depending on which schedule I look at. Regardless, I had it in my head to do twelve so that the thirteen in two weeks seems like a piece of cake.
I had planned on running with my friend Coleen, who is coming back from injury and is also running Carlsbad--her first half marathon. She is not ready for twelve, so I went to the bay early to run four beforehand. Laura joined me. She didn't have time for a long run, so this was perfect for her.
We had a nice four mile run (actually 4.33 miles). I had no time goals and didn't even look at my Garmin at all. I knew we were working pretty hard. I knew Laura had a time deadline, so I didn't say anything. We talked the entire time, but it was a bit of an effort. We ended up running at an average pace of 9:05!! We are both getting much faster. We did negative splits without even trying:
mile 1- 9:20
mile 2- 9:17
mile 3- 8:58
mile 4- 8:54
.33- 8:29 pace
As we finished, Coleen pulled up. Coleen and I went out at a much slower pace (around 10:45 for the entire run). I was wondering how it would feel to run so much slower than I have been. It was really nice! I know why they recommend running long runs at a minute to a minute and a half slower than race pace. It was really a great run. I talked with Coleen the entire time, but still felt like I was getting a good workout. This was Coleen's farthest run yet. Before yesterday, the farthest she had run was six miles. She did great! When we hit the eight mile mark I let her know. She was surprised and said she could have gone on longer. We decided to walk instead of run back to our cars. There is no sense in pushing it. I am so proud of her! I was excited and honored to be there as she hit that milestone. I remember last year how six miles was the furthest I had run when I started this journey. Getting to eight was a BIG deal. Coleen's smile was ear to ear. We are going to do ten next week as the last long run before Carlsbad. I'm looking forward to it.
total run- 12.49 combined pace- 10:13
3 comments:
I love running with newbie runners and people training for their first marathon or half. It makes me remember that high I got the first time I ever ran 10 miles or 9 miles or whatever. Glad to hear you had a nice run. Wow what great weather. Its cooler here, around 70 for a high.
I'm glad you could help out Coleen like that. I can guarantee she appreciated that! What a difference a year makes for you, huh?!
Sounds like everything is falling into place with your runs. Keep up the good work! I'm sooo jealous!! :-)
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