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Friday, February 25, 2011

Taking away the quotation marks

I've decided to remove the quotation marks from now on and say LONG run. My runs are long for me, and that's what matters.

Who's got 2 thumbs but is using one to take the picture? THIS girl!


Today, I took the day off from work.  My birthday is Sunday, so I wanted to have day all to myself. I planned this weeks "long"- I mean LONG- run, around 8 miles.

There's about a 2.2 mile loop around my neighborhood I like to run.  I figured I could do it 3 times, and then do a shorter one for the last loop, and hit around 8 miles.

My last "long" LONG run was 5.9 miles, so I knew it was a jump, but I got myself excited about this run all week.


I woke up with a few aches and pains (I ran yesterday), but I was determined to keep going. My strategy for long runs is to run 4/walk 1.... so I run for 240 seconds at a time :-)

At around 49:00 I ate a Powerbar gel. I felt pretty hardcore running long enough to need a gel.

Most of the time on the run, I was able to talk myself into "I can do anything 240 seconds at a time!" It's so much easier psychologically to say, "I only have to run 4 minutes, then I get a break", instead of "I have to run for 90 minutes."

At about 80:00 my husband called me. I use my phone as a music player, so whenever someone calls, it interrupts my music. I'm torn- I'm glad to have my phone with me while I run (in case I get bitten by a dog or something), but I hate being interrupted.

Anyway, my time turned out to be 12:00 minute miles. This is disappointing, so I think I'm going to work on it. In fact, I may have decided something today (that I'm totally okay with):

I think I'm going to put off a full marathon this year.

I would really like to get better at the half before moving on. I've got the Country Music Half coming up at the end of April, then no other substantial races until the Nashville Women's Half in September. I think I can get better between the races, and then maybe start training for a full in January for the Country Music Full Marathon.

So, I think this is a good plan. I'm going to keep getting better and better.

Now, if I could just figure out the ice bath thing. That did NOT go well...

Sarah

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway on Facebook!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's awesome! I have yet to run anywhere near that far. I'm always stoked to do a 5K length.

By the way, Love your race countdown for the Nashville Women's Half Marathon. Pretty slick.

Happy birthday early!

brooke said...

I think that is an excellent way to spend one's pre-birthday. Especially since it, also, helped you come to a realization about your running/racing future.

RunningOnCoffee said...

Great run! And happy early birthday! I don't know what your normal pace is, but I wouldn't worry about the slower long run -- from what I understand, your longer runs are supposed to be slower than your goal race pace.

tawna6988 said...

Wow girl! I have never been able to get into runnig. I saw on your side bar that you went over 7 miles? You go!!

Unknown said...

I could not find the comment box for the blog hop this weekend so I just chose this one. I just became your 75th follower thru GFC. I am new to blogging and to this group of bloggers. I have been bouncing around just checking all the differences we have but we have one thing in common: we are all women trying to hold it together and wish that we all succeed no mattter what the thing is we are striving to become. I would love for you to stop by my blog and become a follower. I want to start doing reviews and giveaways but first you need the followers to show you do reach a good bit of people. I would greatly appreciate your following me. Good luck with with the running and hope you do good in meeting your goals. You seem very capable and I admire someone who has convictions to carry out their dreams. Best of luck to you!

Mary @ http://mmbearcupoftea.blogspot.com