8 miles/1:20:59

That single second shy of 1:21:00 is important to me - it means I can just about claim a ten minute mile pace for today's run...

But it was an excellent run. This is, again, the farthest that I have run this year, and it went very smoothly. The weather was a bit cooler, which I think helped, and I remembered to drink more while I was running, and I set off more slowly. The benchmark really is to set off at what feels to be too slow, and then you'll probably finish. I remembered to stick to short stride form as well.

The difference between this week's long run and last week's seven miler is huge, too - I got to the end of today and felt actually energised, like I could have carried on, whereas last week I was just dead. So I'm really pleased with that. I don't think it's one of those breakthrough moments, because I can easily have another bad run, but to have a long run which goes well is very encouraging.

That's the end of the initial ramp up. We will of course be doing longer runs, but next week is a recovery and shorter run week: rather than making each week harder, next week is a bit easier. Well, I say that - I am assuming that the six miler next Saturday will be a hilly Terwilliger run, so it'll be shorter but a touch steeper.

The one black mark is that I was going to reintroduce the carbohydrate gel packs back into my running routine this week, but I just forgot to eat one while I was out there. The time to gobble one down went by in a flash, and by the time I remembered the run was almost over. Given how well I still felt, I probably didn't need it this week.

Try again another day.

Posted by Dunx at May 8, 2004 05:49 PM