3/22 Long Run

Out the door Sunday into what I thought was a much warmer morning that Val says it was. :) Or it cooled off. The heat pump said it was 43, so shorts and a LS drifit. And gloves, because that seems to be a big key to my comfort interestingly enough. Val checked the temp when she got up and it was 38. Could have been I guess, but once I got moving it5 degrees didn't really matter.

Let myself warm up slowly the first mile between the air temps and Saturday's run/workout combo. Kept my heart rate down in the low 140s instead of trying to shoot for the low 150s like normal. It felt pretty good so I did my best to let my body pick the heart rate the whole run, and for the most part it wanted 146-148. I have to work a little (mostly mentally) to keep things in the low 150s so letting my body take care of itself made for a much mellower run.

Decided that since I had run Mill Creek in the one direction on Saturday I'd reverse my normal long run course through Mill Creek for some variety. It's always interesting how much shorter things are than you think they are when you're on the road. Even after all the times I've run variations on this route I still had to finesse things at the end to get the mileage I wanted.

I think the biggest advantage of the Sunday runs, even being run earlier, is that traffic is much lighter, and is thus quieter and more comfortable than say, Saturday. :)

Rand won 35th to 132nd, left up 132nd, right down Seattle Hill Road. Hit the new Buffalo Espresso stand, and looked at my mileage, expecting 5, was at 4. Hung a left down 35th again to the end of the easily runnable sidewalk having road. Tossed down a GU, then doubled back to head to 148th for the turn there into Mill Creek, but decided to run on the west side of the road for a change. The sidewalk there is owned by Mill Creek, and is as close to a trail as you can get in the city. Trees, winding trails, etc. Nice variety for the legs. GOMOTK surfaced and started bitching, but a second GU shut him up for a little bit.

Chugged through the 'trails' in Mill Creek proper. Again, I was surprised by how short this ended up being. After a mile of work, finally passed a woman out for her run when she stopped to walk. Chatted for a second or two, then kept moving. Hope she's recovering from her surgery OK. :)

Made it to Bothell-Everett Hwy and hung a left to 128th, then up and through the office park to Mill Creek Town Center, with another GU to fire me up. Only store open was the Spotted Cow Coffee and Creamery. Even LA Fitness was closed. Slackers. :)

Once I hit 132nd Again, I was doing some math in my head, so I did an out and back down 19th/Bothell Everett Hwy to 100th and then swung back onto 132nd back down to 35th and home. Snagged another GU in there somewhere.

Very interesting to see my HR go down as the GU's finally hit my system each time. Sometimes I could feel the energy level change, but not always. GOMOTK was grumbly on and off all run, but finally settled down in the last 5 miles or so to a dull roar. Getting new shoes this week, so we'll see if that corrects the problem.

I'm always surprised at how hard it is to fit a long run into a reasonable area without odd little machinations. Probably because they're long. :)

And the verdict is that letting your body do the thinking works. Faster than yesterday's 9 miler by 8 seconds/mile, and 4 points lower on HR. Happy Dance! :)

18.1 in 2:54:01 (9:37/mile) @ 147 bpm. All but 3 miles under 10, and one under 9 (a very pleasant downhill. :))

Finished the week with 47.89 miles. Goal was 46. :) So much for paying attention to my mileage so I don't go over. :)