Mileage - 26 miles
Long Slow Run (LSR) was the name of the game today. I was supposed to be doing this tomorrow but today actually fit in better with wanting to relax down in Sedona tomorrow and also giving me an extra day of recovery if I decided to run the Stanford 10km next week.
I arrived out a a trail we call Mailboxes and was gladly met by Phil Wharton, Stephan Shay (brother of the late Ryan Shay and who also recently ran 62.26 recently in the Houston half marathon) and David McNeill of Australia and NAU, fresh off a NCAA indoor 5km title and runner up in the 3km. I was glad there were people for at least the first part of my run as that would take some of the monotony out of the run. I ran with the guys for 10 miles and it was lucky they were there because I was always find it very hard to stay at a slow pace but we were running 7 to 7.30s for most of the 10 miles. We got back to the car and I loaded up on some fluids and turned and headed back out on the dirt trail. It was a gorgeous day but there was a little wind so that helped me to stay slow. The point of the run was just as the name suggests...to run slow and just get time on my feet. These runs help you develop the energy systems that you will be relying on during the marathon and I have always struggled to keep them slow enough. The next 8 miles went by without much concern and no pain from my achilles so once I got back to the car I again took on some more fluids and also gulped a gel down...and then again, headed back out on the dirt trail. The trail is basically an out and back 8 mile U shaped dirt road. It actually made it very easy for the run because I could just break it down into 3 parts with a 2 mile add on. The time actually flew by and the run really didn't feel hard or take too much out of my legs. It felt just like any other 2 hour run I have done, just an hour longer. I was using the Mizuno Nirvana 6 that I was recently sent and they work out great . Usually after the long runs there has always been some sort of chaffing or blisters but my feet were just how I had tucked them into the shoe 3 hours before. The cushioning was perfect and my feet didn't overheat which can be a bit of a problem. I would definitely recommend these shoes as a great mileage shoe. After I got to the finish and did some stretching, I headed back into town and headed straight to the Himalayan Grill for some refueling during their lunch buffet hours. I actually controlled myself well and just had one big plate of chicken curry, rice, noodles, naan bread and finished off with a bowl of mango chunks. This was just what I needed after such a long run. I managed to get my shift swapped from 3.30pm to 5pm also so that I would have enough time to get some good rest before heading into Karma for a busy night's work.
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