My best run ever!!

joehempel

Last Saturday I went for a 16 mile run, and had to be picked up, utterly failed due to heat exhaustion. It was pretty mentally debilitating as my marathon is only 8 weeks away at this point.

This week I went out and tried the same route with renewed energy, but still cautious.

It was about 13 degrees cooler and had some light rain falling. I went out slower than last week trying to bank miles at a slower pace in order to feel a bit better mid-run and towards the end.

The first 3 miles ended up being, 10:17, 10:30, and and 10:13. However once mile 4 happened my pace picked up a bit un-intentionally. Miles 4-9 were just about all under 10 minutes a miles. 9:46, 9:53, 9:46, 10:12, 9:56, 9:54.

I really didn't realize this was happening as ALL of the hills I had problems with the first time were no problem today. In fact, I didn't even walk until I made myself stop for some water at mile 11. That's the longest I've run without walking ever.

That probably ended up being my biggest mistake. I had thought that by grabbing water, and walking for a minute that I would be able to recover some to make the last 5 miles go better. They didn't really go better, but they didn't go any worse either until the very end.

I did get caught at around mile 12.5 where one of the roads took a turn up a steep hill and I ended up walking most of it.

The problem came in when I was walking up the hill a bit that my calves started to seize up a bit. So the next few miles were between 10:53 and 11:27. I was able to pick it up after that to get my pace back down to 10:30 where my legs started to feel really sore the last mile back up to 11:12.

Either way, I'm incredibly happy with this run. It's obvious that a 4:30 marathon might be out of reach for me right now, but who knows.

Here are the mile splits:

10:17
10:30
10:13
09:46
09:53
09:46
10:12
09:56
09:54
10:43
10:22
10:53
11:32
11:27
10:29
11:12
02:06 <--Last .21 miles


I'm pretty happy. While I was sore when I was done, I felt better than I did on my 15 mile run. It wasn't my fastest by any means, and it wasn't meant to be. But I ran longer than ever without a walk break, and I ran my furthest mileage yet!

Here's the link to my run! I should add that I didn't stop the timer at lights or street crossings, so my avg pace may have well been faster.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/222065054/11527425

MGreensides

Great run! Nice consistent miles. You're gonna do awesome on your marathon.

juliamamann

Wow you are rocking it! Isn't it funny how runs can one day be horrible and then another day be amazing? So important to remember this. I admire you for training for a marathon! You will be in a very elite group of people! Congrats!

barefoot_shuffler

Phenomenal!!! I hope to someday try a full marathon You are going to rock!!!

ltowns11

Fabulous run you race will be even better!!!!

mattdog02

Great Run, Keep it up!! You are very ready for the marathon

AmyEm3

Nice!

joehempel

Thanks everyone! It was a great feeling Was sore after, and along the coo down walk back my calves and hammies seized up, but a soak and some time with that torture device they call a massage roller helped a ton!

Waking up this morning feeling good and going to get a nice easy 5-6 miles in this evening.

Slatzuk

Great job.

It is only your best run ever until your next one, you will get better and better.

joehempel

Thanks!! I'm hoping that's the way it will go!

I'm getting excited and quite nervous about this whole marathon coming up!

michellemybelll

nice run! you've got 8 weeks til the marathon - i'm sure you'll rock it

foody44

Fantastic job!!! I hope to be able to run a Full Marathon one day too. My next goal is to conquer a Half. Happy you had a good run today Keep pushing on!