Sunday, September 04, 2005

Another Sunday Swelter

The relentless drive to increase endurance brought me today to the longest run of the year so far. I wasn't sure by how much it would be the longest, but I just wanted to get above the 30 km of last week. What actually happened is probably best relayed through this email I sent to my regular Sunday running partner, Colin, who unfortunately was not able to make it today but had a good run yesterday. Inserts in square brackets are edits for a wider audience.

Hi Colin, today I ran from home to the park [5.8km] and back [6.8 km]. I left home at about 7:25 am and wore the HRM. Running a slowish (but normal for a long run) pace of 5:25/k. Got to the park right on 8:00 and plodded through four laps ranging between 13:15 and 13:37. Wasn't exactly finding them easy with the temp at 28 and the humidity...not low. Right at 9:00 Bob and the visitors and Laura were there. Then Gareth turned up. We ran a couple of laps [2.5k/lap] together before Gareth peeled off for home. Mika and Rie and Satohi showed up after our first lap. Mika ran a charity 10k race yesterday and won it in about 46 or 47 minutes...her PW for 10K (she has a sore ankle)!

Anyway, I went round for another couple of laps after Gareth left and that gave me 8 in the park. This time they were all below 14 minutes, but one was 13:52 (just after the visitors joined). The heart rate had been at 130 for most of the early part of the run, but by this time it was up to 140 and I was not doing things easily. I had my fuel belt with a water bottle containing no water, but enough sports drink powder to make 500mL. So I filled and drank all that before heading for home. I did the run home at 5:15 pace, which was a bit faster than I had been going. Got home and had a quick drink of water and then did one more km around the block just for good measure. Total=33.8 km

So like you yesterday, I am tired but happy.

2 comments:

Tesso said...

Steve, reading about the humidity there I just can't wait for summer! Wierd I know, but there's something appealing about that totally spent feeling you get after long runs at that time of year.

So what's your next big race?

Stephen Lacey said...

Hi Tesso, thanks for your comment. Yes, I do know what you mean aboutthe satisfaction of being totally wasted after a long run. Something akin to how good it feels to stop banging your head against a brick wall (not that I have actually done that). My next big race -- and I should try to put this in the side bar -- is a full marathon on November 23. There might be a 10k or half somewhere between now and then, but that is the focus.