OUC Half Training – W6D41 – Distance 12 Miles

When my alarm work me at 6 am I had a brief thought to hit the snooze button, but I knew that if I didn’t get up I would greatly regret it.  It motivates me to get out of bed when I think about how much better the day will be if I run in the morning, especially after a long run.  For some reason I don’t dread twelve mile runs as much as you would think, I guess because I expect it to be long so I know what I am getting myself into.  Before I made my way outside I checked the plan on my Nike+ app.  It said to run a nine mile progression with a two mile warm up and one mile cool down.  As I opened the front door the cool air rushed over me and chilled me to the bone.  I thought that I should go back in to get my arm warmers, but decided against it and started my run.

The cold air made me want to run faster, but unfortunately I had to keep stopping for the traffic lights which all seemed to not be in my favor.  After a mile I finally made it to the river. I had decided ahead of time that I was going to run two loops around the river, which makes my long runs seem more manageable. Usually this is a good idea, but today the wind coming off the water made my hands hurt from the cold and there wasn’t any sunshine out to warm them up.  After I finished my second mile I picked up my pace a bit to start my progression.  When I made it to the other side of the river the sun was starting to rise and the Boston skyline looked absolutely beautiful!  I stopped on the side of the walkway to take a panoramic photograph with my phone.

After the first lap I ran a bit past my starting point and then turned around to run the loop in the opposite direction. I found that this makes the run easier because it is not the same exact thing twice in a row.  At the half way point I unzipped my SPIbelt and pulled out my energy gel.  I tried something different this week by eating the gel as I ran instead of stopping like I usually do.  I figured that I won’t be able to stop during the race so why stop during my training run?  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and so delicious!

When I made it back to the Cambridge side of the river I took another picture of the skyline; this time the sun was a lot higher in the sky.  It was also here that I noticed a whole lot of people wearing medical scrubs walking in the opposite direction.  I wasn’t sure where the hospital was, but I couldn’t help but think,  “Were they headed to work or just leaving this early in the morning?”  At mile eight I picked up my pace some more and started running in the eight mile pace range, staying in that range through mile eleven where I ran an 8:17 mile.

Near the end of the run my legs started feeling fatigued and sore, which lasted all day long.  I’m hoping as I continue to run longer distances my legs will get used to the mileage.  Besides that I felt pretty good during the run.  I finished the 12.13 miles in 1:51:30 giving me an average pace of 9:11 which is great considering that the first two miles were a nice slow warm up. Tomorrow I plan on spending the whole day resting…..and maybe a little shopping.