Day 54

Long run today. Body is still sore from yesterday but not so bad that I can't get my 15 in. The weather is awesome! 64 degrees with a slight sprinkle of rain... just enough to keep you cool but not enough to get you soaked. I grabbed a bit of breakfast and drank some water and then headed out to the Rock Island Trail for 7.5 miles out and 7.5 miles back.

Distance: 15.0 miles
Duration: 2:18:38
Pace: 9:14
HR Avg/Max: 133/148
notes:

The cool weather was such a pleasant relief! I've been reading about cardiac creep and how hotter weather can elevate you're heart rate, but I had no idea how much of an effect it really has. Normally I haven't been able to keep my HR under 135 (70% of my max) no matter how slow I went, but today I was hard pressed to get it above 135! Yesterday's hard workout certainly helped slow me down as my legs didn't feel like they could go much faster than 9:00 minute pace even if I wanted to. This was good because today's 15 was the longest I've ever run in my life (possibly true about the 14 too but I'm pretty sure I did 14 once or twice in high school). Not only that but the 15 capped a 37 mile week which is considerably farther than my previous max of 29.

The run went excellent. The first few miles I was a little fatigued, but that soon went away. By mile 5 I was feeling great and pretty much felt ok until around 12.66 miles. At this point my left foot started hurting and my energy levels dropped. I stopped and stretched for about 10 seconds and then continued on at a slower pace. My foot felt better but I still labored for the next mile in a half. Then with less than a mile left I rallied the energy I had left and pushed the pace slightly finishing strong.

I'm hungry and tired but I'm also happy. We're on our way to Indian buffet and I'm going to put a hurting on some basmati! 2 hours and 20 minutes is a long time to run, and 15 miles is a long way! but add another 1 hour and a half on and 11.2 more miles and you have yourself a marathon... I'm beginning to think that I'm crazy!