The Long Slow Run

Today was my long slow run. It was my first long slow run. 4 miles was on the plan--2 miles out, 2 miles back. I started out slowly, the first mile was 10:47. I was planning on running 4 11 minute miles. I thought with this pace I could make it all the way through. Plus I read that the long slow run should be 1 1/2 to 2 minutes slower per mile than your planned race pace. My goal is to run 9 minute miles for the 5K so 11 minute miles it will be. Well, I got through mile 1 and hit the stop button on my watch thinking it was the lap timer. You, see, I discovered on my watch that it can be used as either a split timer or a lap timer. Having never participated in a timed type of sport, I'm not exactly sure how the split works, but I have a pretty good idea how the lap works. When I push the button it records time 1 as lap one and then push again for time 2 etc. This way I can have the time per mile instead of my average time per mile which is also good to know. Well, I pushed the wrong button and actually stopped the time. I discovered this as I hit mile 2 and wanted to see my mile 2 time. I quickly hit the start button again to get the timer going. So mile 1 was 10:47 and when I started it back up at mile two the timer begin clocking my progression. When I got back to the start, the complete of 4 miles the elapsed time was ~31 minutes. (I'm not sure of the exact time because I actually started the stupid thing again at some point between my cool-down, shower and writing of this note because the timer is going and it is up over an hour!) So anyway, mile 2, 3 and 4 was run in about 30 minutes so all in all, I was at about a 10 minute pace.

While out, I was listening to my running buddy, Steve Runner of www.steverunner.com, the voice of Phedippidations who was talking about is performance at the Marine Corps Marathon. One of the things that came up was bathroom breaks, twisted intestines and I got to thinking because during my run I had to stop to tie one of my shoes and also for a traffic light. When timing yourself while running, do you stop the clock when you stop to empty yourself, tie a shoe or pause for a picture? I will ask this of him through his forum and see what he has to say.

The other thing I was thinking about was that 4 miles isn't really that far. To say that it is my long run, for many runners, this is a light day distance. It's very troubling how I compare my performance as someone who is relatively new to this sport at a -10 in fitness level to those who are at an 8 fitness level. The one thing I know is that if I keep this up, an 8 mile run wouldn't seem like a stretch and I just lace up the shoes and begin putting one foot in front of the other. I did make it through the 4 miles without taking a walking break. I continued and tried to vary my pace if I got tired or felt good.

I've been running consistently for 2 weeks now. The previous 6 - 8 weeks I'd been running about 2-3 miles 1 - 2 days a week with 20 - 30 minutes of Rugby on Saturday. The one thing that is for sure, Rugby fitness is a bit different from just running fitness. Another thing that is for sure is that running will definitely build up a solid base of cardiovascular fitness. I am planning to add regular calisthenics to my routine to build up an anaerobic base too. I really like the idea of doing body weight exercises like push ups, pull ups, single leg squats, all of which are a challenge because I am carrying a bunch of extra weight. What I am doing with this though will be setting very small goals and staying constant with the effort. I believe the added time would be an extra 20 minutes 3 times a week. So that would be 1 extra hours to even further my level of fitness. I'm encouraged that I've made it out the door in my shoes, according to plan for the last 2 weeks and look forward to tomorrows off day and Tuesday's run and so on and so on and so on.

That's all for now, except that I do feel good about where I am. I'm going to lace up and run.