One Normal Long Run Over the Last 6 Long Runs

Treadmill long runs usually have 6 miles "at pace" in the middle that start at 9.1 mph and go up to 10.2 mph by speeding up 0.1 mph every half mile. And long runs outside usually have 6 harder "pace miles" in the middle. Those are my 2 standards. (And both are 11-12 miles total.)

The last 6 weeks of long runs have been more random:

• JAN 1: treadmill, and different routine for speeding up. I started the year on the treadmill. Bad start... ha! Instead of my normal routine of speeding up 0.1 mph every half mile, I started this one faster and bumped it up more randomly: I started at 9.4 mph, and then bumped it up 0.1 mph every MILE for the first 3 miles, then every 1/2 mile. 6 pace miles at 6:10 pace in the middle of 11.2 miles.

• JAN 8: treadmill, and started faster. Did my pace miles starting at 9.3 mph and went 6.5 miles up through 10.5 mph! 6.5 pace miles at 6:07/mile pace in the middle of 11.8 miles.

• JAN 15: shorter long run in the pouring rain in Jamaica. I posted about this here. Shortened the pace miles because of the heat and the rain. 5 pace miles at 6:31 pace (yikes!) with a total of just 10.15 miles.

Starting to rain on my run. (It got worse!)


WET and stretching afterwards.

• JAN 21: fartlek long run about to leave Jamaica. Again, I posted about this here. Ran random lengths harder and then easier. Total run was 11.23 miles in 1:17:55.

• JAN 29: A NORMAL LONG RUN THAT FELT GOOD! Whew! It was about time. I accidently started the "pace miles" in this one a bit slower, but then I had a PERFECT descend for the first 8 splits (4 miles)! My half mile splits of the pace miles were:

3:22, 3:19, 3:12, 3:10, 3:06, 3:05, 3:03, 3:01, 3:04, 3:06, 2:59, 2:56

= 6:14.8/mile pace

19:17 first 3 miles / 18:12 last 3 miles

That was 11.74 miles in 1:19:45 in total.

• FEB 5: a shorter/easier long run. This one was only 10.47 miles, with a PLANNED shorter set of "pace miles" of just 5 miles in the middle (at a slower 6:25 pace) because I had just done the Tri-U-Mah Indoor Triathlon as a relay with co-workers 2 days before that. I didn't want to over-do it! My legs were tired mid-week last week, but nothing got "injured," which is the goal!

Time for hopefully another "normal" long run this week, but after a weekend of Super Bowl snacks, we'll see if this works!...