Week 3: Fifteen miles

20:40 sec run/walk ratio
3:52:37 hours
14.41 miles
16.1 minutes/mile

My app was set up for a 14 mile run this week, so I have stats for 14 miles, but I did go ahead and run/walk a 15th mile when the app was done. I did 5 complete loops at the park, so I finished my 14th mile at the top of the upper loop, leaving me with one mile to get back to my truck, so I was bound to do 15 miles whether I felt like it or not! The 14th mile was, in fact, pretty hard, being uphill in the sun with me in my full-length leggings and long-sleeved tee-shirt, but I forced myself to do all my run intervals even if they were a bit slow. As soon as I turned around to go downhill for the last mile, a breeze came up and I felt much better. I'd finished the 14 mile run before the turnaround, but went ahead and walked up to the circle before turning back. I went ahead and walked the 3-minute cooldown, then, since Jeff was done telling me when to run and walk, I just winged it on the way back. I figured I wasn't on the clock anyway, so I ran when I felt like it and walked likewise. I suspect I was doing about 1 minute running to 2 or 3 minutes walking.

I had my usual protein drink in the truck on my way to the park, and ate three GUs during my run, at around mile 7, 10, and 13, which kept my energy up pretty well. Didn't really start to flag until the 14th mile, but even then, I kept going and felt fine once I was going downhill again. I did have a digestive upset early, on my way up the upper loop on mile 2. Kept waiting to see if it would settle down, but it didn't, and spent most of mile 3 heading back to the parking lot & bathrooms hoping I'd make it in time and praying this wouldn't be one of those rare times when the bathroom was locked. Fortunately, it wasn't, and once I made the stop I felt all right the rest of the way. Slightly low on energy today, but not enough to really interfere with my run.

I got up early, at 6 AM, to try to get to the park by 8 AM, but was feeling wonky and didn't actually leave until a little after 8 AM. It was COLD in the house this morning, and the outside thermometer said 45 F outdoors, and I really didn't want to go outside, heh. Which is why I wore my warmest running clothes plus my jacket, even though I knew it would be hot later and I'd wish I had lighter clothes on. Also why I wanted to wait until the sun was up before starting—I figured it would be better to wait so I wouldn't be too cold in the beginning, and it wasn't supposed to get that hot today anyway. Well, the weather forecast called for a high of 75 F, which is a long way from the 90 F days of summer, but is still pretty hot when the sky's clear and the sun's beating down in the middle of the day. I took my jacket off when I made my bathroom stop, at the end of mile 3. The first half of the run was fine, but the last half was kind of hot. That's the way it is in the desert, though. Cold nights and hot days and a 30-degree increase in temperature between sunrise and noon. Hard to dress properly for the beginning and the end of the run.

All in all, it was a pretty good run. Maybe not my fastest, but I kept up my energy and finished strong and feeling fine.