16 miler

I had a great run this morning. The Salt Lake Running Company organizes Saturday morning teaser runs. There's not a group start time. You just show up between 6:30 & 7:00 and go your own pace. My only complaint is the time. I mean seriously? 6:30? I like to start at 8:00. That's early to me for a Saturday. It actually turned out for the best cause by the time I finished it actually got colder. I'm just not planning on making a habit of it.

The route was the Jordan River Parkway. The starting point was the park at 5400 South. They marked the trail every mile for 5 miles north and south. I went south first for the 5 miles, back, then 3 miles north.

The nice thing about this trail is that it's about 99% traffic free. I had to run across two roads, but there wasn't really any traffic.

It was kind of motivating to see all the other runners out too. We pretty much owned that trail. I like runners cause most of them smile or say hello or whatever as they pass. Two guys (very cute) actually talked to me for about a 1/2 mile as they were passing me. They said they noticed I have very steady pacing. If I had a dollar every time someone admired my pacing....

I think my new training style is working (see the previous post). My first 5 miles were actually the slowest--10ish/min/miles. The middle I had some 9:30-9:40 min/miles. The last three miles I had a slight headwind so they were a little bit challenging but I tried to push myself to keep up and I did.

I'm not supposed to push hard on the long run, but I did actually push myself on the last mile. It was for the psychological training. I like to push through the tiredness so when I'm on runs/races that are hard at the end I'm mentally ready.

I really felt good with the run today. I was actually under my pace time that I'm supposed to run at according to the chart. I felt like I could have run further or harder at the end. I tend to underestimate my capacity. I kind of feel like I could push harder on my speed training runs too, so I might up my intensity level anyhow.

In my past experience, 16 miles is the last distance I enjoyed the whole distance. After that the last two miles that get added seem a little more agonizing. That's were it's more mental than physical. I'm looking forward to the 18 miler in two weeks though, cause I'd like to see how that goes. Theoretically if I have raised my lactate threshold, I should be able to longer/farther with more efficiency. Check back in two weeks to see how that goes.