Sunday, February 8, 2009

17 mile long run

The alarm went off at 4:45 this morning and I almost decided to go back to sleep and do the run in the afternoon. I decided I would be a lot happier if I got the run over with in the morning instead of suffering through the warmer weather in the afternoon and my legs would be fresher for tomorrow morning's workout with 24 hours to rest. It was about 60 degrees and very humid when I started the run.

Houston streets are quiet before 6:00 am. I got out the door about 5:15 and ran from my house to the Kenyan Way base area, up heights boulevard to the end and back to base, then through river oaks to 610 to memorial park and back home. The whole route was 17.04 miles on my Garmin and took me 2:05 which is a 7:20 average pace. My splits and avg heartrates were as follows-

1: 7:50, 141
2: 7:32, 148
3: 7:29, 148
4: 7:35, 149
5: 7:31, 152
6: 7:25, 150
7: 7:23, 153
8: 7:22, 155
9: 7:22, 151
10: 7:14, 154
11: 7:12, 155
12: 7:09, 157
13: 7:06, 159
14: 7:06, 160
15: 7:06, 163
16: 7:10, 166
17: 7:13, 165

I felt pretty good and only stopped for water twice during the run - during miles 6 and 9 (avg heartrate dropped those miles). I probably could have used a water stop around mile 14 or so, but there weren't any drinking fountains out on that part of the run. My hamstrings were getting a little sore the last couple of miles and some of it probably had to do with going the last 8.5 miles of the run without a water stop. My heart rate was under 160 for most of the run which is good for a long run/recovery the day after a race. Fortunately I remembered to charge my iPod last night because I would have been really bored without it. For any runs longer than this I will probably need to take my camelbak with me or plan my route to make sure I can get water every 4 - 5 miles. I would have taken the camelbak with me today, but I haven't cleaned it out since the last time I had gatorade in it so it is probably all sticky and gross. This run will make getting up for the 6:00 hills tomorrow morning feel like I am sleeping in.

1 comment:

  1. Good run Geoff. I personally like mixing a loop of Memorial in with a loop of the Bayou, and even into downtown along the marathon finishing route, cause of the water fountains all along the way.

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