I ran the 12 mile “Scenic” long run today at 6 AM as part of my class. I completed it in 1:45:41 or about 8:48/M which is too fast. Actually I’m really surprised having thought that I was actually running somewhere in the 9 1/2 minutes per mile from trying to calculate it in my head before doing it with a calculator just now. These long runs are supposed to be a slow and easy. Oops. Most of my difficulty is that I started out with a fast crowd of George, Bob, Jennifer, and somewhat Kelly (Dan was not here this week) and that might not have been the best choice. So with all the water stops and still a 8:48/M pace I basically was running very near my marathon goal pace.
The muscles on the right side of my left ankle again had a burning sensation, but I just kept running. There was a time midway that I didn’t feel it at all which was great. At the beginning I know that I’m favoring it. When the run was over and as I was doing my foot exercises back at the building I could really feel it. One of my friends noticed that I was limping slightly and told me. I think I need to get it checked out. Ugh! However, right now just sitting still it’s fine. I did find out that if I spread my legs apart about 2 feet and then shift my weight back and forth from foot to foot I can make it burn more easily. So it seems that lateral pushing off of the left foot is key.
My heart rate was high at times because of the numerous hills, but at the beginning and especially at the end I tried to slow down without much success. I’m just a guy who pushes himself and I’ve got to learn to relax more. My mantra should be “long SLOW distance”. However, I’ve never really considered myself someone with a type-A personality.
