Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sunday Long Run

I had my longest run ever today. I was a bit worried about it earlier in the week because my Tuesday and Thursday runs were fairly painful and my legs felt heavy, tired, and sore all week. However, I had 2 days off since my last run and I made sure to stretch and use the foam roller every day. That thing is painful but I think it is working.

So the schedule called for a 90 minute run today. I asked Coach Jeff Kline if he thought it was safe to wear my Newtons for the whole run and he said yes. I was happy about that because it kind of throws me off having to stop partway through a long run and change shoes. It's hard to get back into my stride. (Last Sunday I wore them for 45 min but Tues and Thurs I wore them for the entire 50-60 minute run with no trouble.)

I decided to wear my fuel belt today to see how it felt. It only has two 8oz bottles but it's better than carrying the hand-held bottle I think. It felt pretty comfortable so I am considering buying a 4-bottle belt so I can have 3 bottles of fluid and use one as a gel flask.

Today I drank both bottles which each contained 1/2 Nuun tablet and 1/2 scoop of Carbo Pro. I also carried a hammer gel with me and took it after about an hour but only because I was hungry and had only had a late breakfast before my run.

I did my regular warm up which consists of about 8-10 minutes of walking, butt kicks, high knees, and 1 min runs over 1 km. Then I ran. I ran 45 minutes down the trail, turned around, and ran back. I felt really good for the first hour, like I could run all day. For the last 30 minutes, I felt some mild tightness and soreness in my lower legs, mostly the posterior tibial tendon on my right leg at the ankle, but nothing serious at all. Nothing that made me want to stop running. I tried to use good form, stay loose, light on my feet, head held high etc.

When I had run for 90 minutes, I stopped and walked the last 5 min back. My legs felt tight when I stopped but I stretched my hamstrings and calves at the car, then stuck my lower legs in tall bucket of cold water when I got home. My quads feel tired right now but nothing is hurting.

I can't wait to run for 2 hours. I absolutely cannot wait. :D

My twitter friend, Ron, showed me that I can embed my Garmin Connect into my blog now so here's my run.

4 comments:

JayDub said...

Well done on your distance PR! I managed to do a distance PR of my own on the weekend, but wasn't nearly as prepared as you were with refuelling and hydration - and I paid for it as a result! I've realised this is an area I need to learn a lot more!

I listened to the Kelownagurl Tris podcast for the first time last Friday also and it was great. Thanks for putting it out there!

Glenn Jones said...

I'm going through a bit of a decision point myself on different hydration systems. I currently have a Nathan fuel belt that has four 10 oz. bottles. For shorter runs or runs that have frequent water/aid stations, it works pretty well. I'm getting into trail running these days though where water fountains/aid stations are fewer and far between. I just can't get used to carrying bottles. I'm looking at hydration vests to foot the bill....

Kelownagurl said...

Jaydub - Thanks!

Glenn - I keep wondering how hot those vests get sitting on your back?

Drew said...

I tried out a hydration pack this year for the first time and I'm happy to say I love it. The first 1/2 mile feels a little awkward, but you quickly forget it's there. If you get one make sure to tip it upside down and suck out the air. That minimizes the sloshing noise.