Finally - a solo long run that I'm proud of!

Wow - less than four weeks until Disney! I actually had a pretty good run yesterday so I'm starting to feel a little less nervous about it. Let's face it, I'm training about half as I hard as I did the first time around. I might get a couple of short runs in plus a long run and that's about it. No cross training, no strength training (except for that one class that left me in pain for days), no yoga, no short run over 4 miles, etc... My current "training plan" (if you want to call it that) is pretty bare bones.

So anyway, yesterday, I was scheduled for a 12 mile run. I could have easily done it on the nearby trail but I know the trail can get sort of monotonous after awhile so I decided to copy my long run from the last week. I ran a 4 mile loop around my neighborhood that has some decent hill work twice and then ran the last four miles with an out and back run on the trail.

And it worked out great! Normally on these long runs, I always want to cheat and take too many walking breaks but this time I was really good. I only stopped to refuel with water and/or my sport beans (thinking about using those instead of Gu). The hills were tough but I think they served as sort of a fun diversion where instead of focusing on how many miles I have left, I would focus on tackling an upcoming hill instead.

I felt I ran at a comfortable pace and even with the hills, stoplights, dodging pedestrian and car traffic, and all my refuel breaks (which I took at miles 4, 6, 8, 10, and 11), I still finished the 12 miles at a 10:57 min/mi pace. I would be thrilled to finish with that as my marathon pace! But I know... 12 miles is a big difference from 26.2.

This weekend will be my peak long run of 18 miles. I had all these grand plans to run in different locations but I have a feeling that this one will also be in LG, just like all my other long runs. It's just so convenient and it's nice to be so close to home just in case. It definitely came in handy last weekend when I was freezing at mile 10 of my 16 mile run. So I ran the mile home, changed into a long sleeve T-shirt, put on my running gloves, and headed back out to finish my run. Sort of. I may have actually plopped down on my couch for a bit to rest a little. Or a lot. According to my Nike plus log, it may have actually been an hour long break. :) But I did finish the last five miles that day!

In other news, I won my first Nike plus challenge!



(But to be honest, I think Gee let me win.)