Long Run

Great run this morning. I almost repeated yesterday's non-workout. It was 47 this morning.

Somehow I managed to pull myself out of bed and get out on the road. I swear, back in 2006 & early 2007 I just bounced out of bed to run. Maybe I'm getting old.

I really like the run up here with one caveat; it's 2 miles practically straight down the hill from our place to the freeway. It's tough to run downhill and keep your pulse low. You almost have to work to keep from going fast so you end up going very slow. It's a warm up anyway.

I need to look at the data on my computer to know for sure but after I get to the freeway it's about a 2 mile gradual climb to Schnebly Hill Road. This is the road you can drive on to Sedona. It's not paved but any SUV can make the drive. Anyway, after a mile or so on that the road starts to drop and I'm on that for another mile or so. Then I turn around and go back.

Anyway I really felt great as I turned around and 10 minutes or so later as I got back on the freeway (huge shoulders to run on) I said to myself that I have to make a note of what I ate (2 packages of instant sugar-filled oatmeal, dry) because it was really working for me.

Anyway, I got to the Munds Park exit and then I got to the bottom of the on-ramp and I was about 8 minutes ahead of schedule so I took a little detour down a fire road. Then it hit me: All the fatigue from my legs pounding up and down the hills. Ugh. Just this overwhelming tiredness in my legs. My lungs felt fine but it was a struggle to keep picking up my feet and the whole time I just kept thinking about what was left - 30 minutes of climbing, 10 of it as a cool down.

Anyway, I got there. Iced down my legs and I ended feeling pretty good for the rest of the day. I'm going to run 2 more 12 mile long runs before my next rest week and then take it up 1 mile per week and hopefully get to 20 miles before the race November 22.