Today was a long run. In the past my long run pace was about the same as my easy run pace, which I do not think is a good thing to do. All week my plan was to do this long run at a much slower pace and to make it my longest distance yet. A couple of steps that I hope will build my endurance.
Four miles was the planned length. I was afraid that I would need to cut it short because my left leg has been bothering me for a couple days. I keep telling myself that it is just shin splints, and I think that I am correct because it did not hurt at all during the run, even though the leg has been sore the rest of the day. I plan on resting it for a couple days and if it does not feel better I will probably look for a doctor to check it out.
So the leg felt good during the run. I changed the display on my Garmin to show nothing but the pace so that I could focus on keeping it slow and steady, and not worry about the time or distance until I got closer to the end of the run. At first it felt weird going so slow, (which is doubly weird since a few months ago that was fast for me.) but I got in the groove and my legs coasted along the road.
I figured that I might need a walk break or two, since this was my longest run ever, but I did not feel like I needed one at all during the run. Even when I went through a park and passed the water fountain that I planned to stop at, I decided to keep going and not stop.
It felt so good to run for such a long distance. When I came to the end I slowed to a walk, and my legs felt like they wanted to keep moving faster.
So all in all I did 4.02 miles in 50:33 which comes out to a 12:35 pace. Just where I wanted to be.
So a few more milestones... I ran the longest distance I have ever run. I ran the longest time I have ever run. I needed no walk breaks at all. And I had my longest weekly mileage.
I am feeling very good about my running right now, and am so motivated to keep going and building my mileage. As long as my leg feels better and nothing is wrong, I should be able to build up my mileage over the next couple of months and start training for the Broad Street Run. God willing.
I have a lot more topics going through my head, so you will probably see multiple post over the next couple of days. And since I need to rest my leg and can not run, the only thing left to do is write about running!
2 years ago
3 comments:
Sounds like your running plan is solid. I made the mistake of running too much too fast after 3 months of starting running and resulted in an injury(out for a month back in Feb). Keep listening to your body.
Knocking out those milestones!! hoorah!!!
good job. you are doing better than I did at that stage. The first time I ever ran 3.1 miles non stop was in my first half marathon. I do love those walk breaks.
I'm concerned about your achy legs.
Whenever I hear about leg, foot, hip pain, the first thing I think of is shoes.
I know you said you bought a fine pair of running shoes, but a good running store (Running Company in either Moorestown or Haddonfield) will make sure that you get the right pair of shoes for your particular gait.
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