Week #6 - Day 4

Today was the long run for the week, 11 miles. While I am happy to report that I did not stop once or walk at all, I did run at a rather slow pace. This was my first long run with the heart rate monitor, and I tried to stick to a good pace so that I don't overtrain myself. When I got to thinking about it, it seemed kind of silly that I was racing against the clock like every run is a race itself. It's just training!

So, for the first 6 miles, I tried to stay around the 80% mark. After that, I slowly let it creep up to the low and mid 80s. The last mile and a half or so, I got back up to my more normal pace and had a strong finish. In the end, it took me 1:51:14 (10:06.7 mile pace). Not exactly the time I was looking for, but I feel nowhere near as exhausted as I did last Saturday. Sure, my knees still hurt and my legs are pretty tired, but I don't feel like I should go sleep for the rest of the day. So while I was not excited about the time, I think in the end that it is what is best for me. Now I just hope I can improve a lot in the next 9 weeks. That four hour marathon would still be nice.