Well, my experiment yesterday proved to be a success!  I chose to take Saturday off to see how my long run day went.  Normally I take off the Monday after my long run day to recuperate, but my thought was that since I run early in the morning on Sunday and don’t run on Monday until mid-afternoon, there is quite a lot of time between the two runs.

Yesterday I ran 10 miles in preparation for our first half marathon next Sunday.  TJ encouraged me to run the first 7 at a good regular pace and the pick it up for the last 3.  Usually I have been pretty worn out by the end of the 7th mile and just push through the last 3.  Yesterday was different.

To begin with, I never hit the psychological wall about having to run so many more miles than my norm.  It just didn’t bother me for some reason.  I don’t know if it was the fact I didn’t run on Saturday and so my body was more rested or what, but it was nice to just run and not worry.

Second, I was able to pull it out for the last three miles.  I was averaging about an 8:40 pace for the first 7 miles and finished the last three in about an 8:10 pace.  In fact, I felt better during the last three than I did on the first 7.  Don’t get me wrong, I was tired and ready to stop at mile 10, but my body felt better picking up the pace. Ultimately I was able to set a new PR for the 10 miles, shaving off over 4 minutes from my last best time.

Today starts more tapering and our workouts aren’t as difficult.  TJ has some good ideas for this last week.  I’ll write each day what we did and how it goes.

T minus 6.

I love running.