I did my long run - FINALLY! When was the last time I ran for an hour? Back when I still lived in Rome I think and that was almost 10 years ago. I was going to run long yesterday, but Brennan was up so much the night before that I couldn't. Last night he only woke up once so I grabbed the chance. Unfortunately he woke Annie up at 5:30.
I wore my Adidas hat, Asics, tights, and a new twist - a t-shirt underneath a long-sleeve shirt. It was about 50 degrees which wasn't cold enough for a jacket, nor warm enough for just a t-shirt and the 2-shirter worked perfectly. I did get really sore nipples, though...I don't think it was chafing necessarily, but they were quite bothersome.
The run was good. I started at the Y, went to Bridge, and then onto Pulteney all the way to route 86 near Denny's. I made the turn at 29:30, intentionally giving myself some extra time on the return trip as I considered that hill near West High. I ended up having an extra 15-20 seconds upon the return to the Y so I just ran a little farther into the parking lot. I guess that means I was a little slower on the return, but I'm okay with that. My pace works out to 9:40 per mile which, given my usual 9:30 per mile, was pretty good.
For the first time that I can remember, I was actually questioning myself as to why I was running so far / so long. It started around minute 40 and though it seemed like a long conversation in my head, it probably only lasted 20 seconds or so. I got rid of it by doing my old Army cadence - "One mile, no sweat, 2 miles, better yet, 3 miles, easy run, 4 miles, lots of fun, 5 miles to the sun, 6 miles, almost done, 7 miles, for the run, aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!". Okay, I added a couple there, but that's what I was saying to myself. It really threw off my breathing :-)
Besides my nipples, there really wasn't much pain anywhere, but there was a ton of discomfort! I could feel the acid in my legs and my right achilles wasn't thrilled, but it never complained so much that I felt the need to stop. My left middle toes started feeling like they were bleeding around minute 45 or 50, but I didn't stop.
I never found a consistent rhythm with my breathing or my stride, but that didn't faze me much. For the most part on the way out I was breathing in & out every 3rd stride. The way back was all over the place as I reverted to breathing in for 3 strides and out for 2. Then when I started doing my cadence I was in and out every 2. Once I realized that, though, I forced myself to calm down so I didn't waste myself. I did some stretching at the end because everything felt like it needed it. Next week I'll run fast instead of long and see how I do - I still haven't found a decent workout plan for that yet.
