Monday my sister-in-law and I went for our hike and run and when we started up the mountain I could definitely tell that I ran 11 miles on Saturday! We kept the same pace as we usually do, just had to dig a little deeper. I can tell you though at the end of the 1.96 mile hike/run and 0.13 mile walk, I did feel a lot better! Reminded me the reason that I do this as my cross training.
Tuesday morning I headed to the running path, ate my GU gel and started my run. I have a goal pace 5-10 seconds/mile faster to be able to be strong enough in my long run. Had some hills and concentrated on running slower up the hills to work my leg muscles a little more and it worked out well! I ended the 7.01 mile run with a 10:18 pace, 1:12:13 overall – 2 seconds/mile faster than my goal pace!! The 0.25 mile cool down definitely felt great and was needed!
Thursday was looking like it may rain so I ran 4 of the 5 miles that I needed to do in the morning and will do the 1 mile run with my sister-in-law in the afternoon if it doesn’t rain. The shorter of the training runs my goal is always 5-10 seconds faster than my goal pace for the semi-long run. I ended my 4 mile run with a 10:14 pace, 41.01 overall and felt great finishing with a 0.14 walk. I love making my goals and I especially love exceeding my goals! The rain held off so we got a 1.01 mile run complete at an 11:21 pace and a nice easy walk of 1.05 miles. Checked the weather and it looks like 100% chance of rain Saturday so my sister-in-law and I talked and I decided to do my long run tomorrow. It will feel like a push to get in 11 miles tomorrow instead of Saturday but who isn’t up for a good challenge?
Friday the weather was on my side – nice and cool!! Got to the running path, did my GU gel and felt great after the first 0.10! I felt good at 3.5 mile but did my GU gel anyway because I did have some tough hills coming up and am glad I did! Hit my GU again at mile 7 which should get through the hills at the end. Right before mile 11, I felt so good and it was easy to talk my mind into going 0.50 mile past my end mark and turn around and do the 0.5o miles back to the end mark and boom you have an extra mile in! I ended with 12 miles at a 10:28 pace, 2:05:42 overall. Had a nice 0.39 mile cool down walk because my body wanted a touch longer of a cool down. I sure am excited that I managed to get an extra mile in at my goal pace and still feel great! Feeling pretty good about my readiness!!