Slow, Hot, Dangerous Long Run... Then a Better One

Two weeks ago, I woke up to SWAMPY weather. The temp was under 80, but it was SOOOOO humid. I knew my long run would suck.

I took off on my normal route, but was aware times would probably suffer. And sure enough, my splits were a bit slow. My "normal" long runs are 11+ miles with 2.5 miles easier, 6 miles harder, and then 2.5+ miles easier again. I had gotten 3 miles into my harder miles, and I was hurting. I just didn't feel "right." I looked at my heart rate and it said 197! I'd never seen that before!! (It's commonly in the upper 180s when I'm working, but I'd NEVER seen 197!) I finished another half mile and eased up... I didn't need to kill myself. I looked at my HR again and it was 195. Yikes.

So I only did 3.5 harder miles instead of 6, and here were my half-mile splits:

3:26, 3:16, 3:16, 3:11, 3:17, 3:20, 3:14

= 23:03 (6:35.14 pace)

Ouch. SLOW. Especially for working THAT hard and going THAT short.

Usually I go "out" farther, but I turned around a
bit early and ended the hard miles at half-mile split #12.


I was dying.

Then last week, I woke up as my last day in Portland for Henry's "Fencing Nationals" fencing tournament. (I posted about a hard treadmill run on morning #2 out there.) I took off along the Willamette River that cuts through downtown Portland, and just figured I'd make up this long run as I went. I was ready to do some sort of gross out-and-back-and-out-and-back route if needed, but I was going to go as far "out" as I felt comfortable.

I started off by crossing the big rail bridge just north of where we were staying:

Sunrise over the convention center where Henry fenced the day before and later this day!


A stretch of big floating walkway heading under the
Burnside Bridge (that we crossed on foot so many times for fencing).


A few bridges farther, looking back.


A submarine?

Just after that, the path turned away from the river. I thought I might be having to start my "hard miles" running back the way I came, but I followed the path through a few blocks of industrial city streets and then back onto a paved off-road path:

Is this sketchy? I felt like it was a little sketchy...


... but soon it opened up to more "normal" paths with other people working out.


Back along the river, but with a big island out there, so it felt rural.


More long, flat path! Nice for some faster running!


The end of the island.

The homeless population that is all over downtown Portland weren't on this trail. It was mainly guys my age running, older guys biking on their expensive road bikes, and young professional women e-biking to work in nicer clothes. The homeless population downtown was never scary or threatening, but I did feel just a tad bit safer on this trail than in downtown.

After turning around, going past an amusement park again! (That's a pink roller coaster.)

I finished a "normal" hard 6 miles in the middle of this run in a pretty "normal" time. Here are my half mile splits:

3:11, 3:08, 3:11, 3:09, 3:05, 3:14, 3:13, 3:09, 3:04, 3:02, 3:05, 3:03

= 37:41 (6:16.83 pace)

For the last few years, I've said that 6:0Xs are fast, 6:1Xs are average, and 6:2Xs are slow for my pace miles. So pretty average, which felt good as an "away from home" less-than-normal long run.

Semi parked overnight in the bike and pedestrian lane. Can't escape that on the west coast.


About to cross the rail bridge to our hotel on the other side.


Splits 1-5 were warm-up, 5-17 were faster, 17-22 were cool-down.

I crossed the bridge at the north, turned around at a bridge at the south, and ran under 5 other bridges!

THAT'S a more normal looking heart-rate graph!

I'm still not feeling great about my running fitness, still really working on my speed, still concerned about upcoming races... but it was nice having a decent feeling long run after some crappy training and busy days!