Pre Break 10 Miler

10.06 miles in 1:40:13 (9:57/mile)

Ran this late Saturday night at 9:45. About 60 and obviously no sun. :)

When I went out I was going to go for something between 5 and 10. I decided on 10 since I wanted to come into the break with as much mileage as I could have, and well, it's not like with 4 weeks off I'm going to get overtrained. :) It helped my motivation that Val and I came up with a couple of options for after the recovery period.

Didn't run these run with any goals other than to stay within the McMillan Long Run range (for me) of 9:22 to 10:22, but heavy on the slower end. :) This continuous progression thing must work, because this run felt better than last week. It could be because I was 20 seconds a mile slower, but it just felt better. I could have done another few miles at this pace, which is a nice sign too. I'm not sure where the last mile came from, though. Unsurprisingly, it wore me out more than the other 9 miles did.

Forgot my band aids, but fortunately pain was minimal. It seems the belt hods the shirt down and keeps rubbing to a minimum. That being said, Val's comment when I mentioned that I forgot them: "You know, most people would probably on forget to do that once." :)

I tried some Strawberry CLIF Shot Bloks for this run. Much stickier than I expected. I was expecting something more like Gummi Bears, especially just coming out of the package. The size of them maybe 3/4" square didn't cause a problem like I thought it might. Texture was unique. Softer than a gummi bear, denser than jello is the best I can do. Seemed to dissolve a little better than the Sports Beans. Flavor was very subtle and gone quickly, after that it was just sweetish. With the Sports Beans you could tell they were made by Jelly Belly, that's for sure.

Hernia cooperated, and my knee didn't complain till mile 4 or so, but not too badly then. Was a little sore on Sunday during our visit to the Aquarium, but shook out nicely by about noon.

The only real problem I've found so far with the late night running thing is that I'm not refueling or rehydrating well enough before I go to sleep, and I'm paying for it the next day. I hit a 'hill' in the Aquarium that left me exhausted. I didn't feel better till after lunch, which advantage of a long run, included a chocolate shake. Mmmm... Carbs.

splits:
mile - 10:00
mile2 -10:56 light
mile3 - 10:05
mile4 - 9:45
mile5 - 10:15
mile6 - 10:43 shoelaces
mile7 - 10:03
mile8 - 9:54
mile9 - 9:52 light
mile10 -8:42