Long run done ... 12 miles

Even with a stressful week at work, I had a fairly good run week.

A 6 mile progressive run on the treadmill for Tuesday and a 5 mile treadmill run on Wednesday were on the schedule. About half way through the 6 mile run, I realized I have been loafing on my paces during the week. Most of my long runs have been faster than the during the week runs. Time to pick up the pace. Well, that's what McMillian tells me.

So I picked it up for an average pace of 9:39 for Tuesday by bumping up the speed each mile. I have to say the faster I went, the better and easier it felt. On Wednesday I decided to start out faster and it was pretty much 5 miles of a sucky run, but I averaged 9:27.

I was trying not to be head case, but 12 miles had me worried. Eleven was tough. So instead of staying home and resting up, I had a late dinner date with my bestie and the girls to celebrate two birthdays. I behaved with one glass of wine and a fairly well-balanced dinner. No greasy food, and only one small piece of dark chocolate infused with chili for dessert. Unfortunately, I didn't head to bed until midnight with an alarm set for 6:30. Ughh!

Most of my buds were dropping back to the 9 mile group this week ... and I forgot my music. Luckily, my normal partner was able to do the full 12 with me. She had a tough week & didn't hit her weekly runs. All went well until about 11 when I felt the crazy ITB "awareness." I realized I was getting lazy with my form and cadence, so I paid more attention to finish it off. I will say that I knew we would hit 12 miles before the parking lot. I told L that when the watch hit 12, I was done. No room for over-achievement today.

I felt strong after the run ... much better than after 11. Here's the only photo of the day, another L & I from a local mom's group. She is going to do awesome in her half next week.

I did need an almost 2 hour nap to recover after watching my Tar Heels get obilerated by the Hurricanes.

Do you use McMillian or other pace calculator?

If you do, how often are you successful in hitting all your goal paces?

I need to work on this more consistently.

Does anyone else's Garmin have crazy estimates for your calorie burn?

I do wear my HRM, and it reported I burned 13 calories for each of the first 2 miles. Are you kidding me?

 

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