Saturday, June 25, 2005

Long Run - 7 miles?

Philly Fit met today for a trail run. It was neat to run along the river on the gravel trail but at times it was a little tricky because the terrain was pretty uneven. I didn't have any trouble though other than getting filthy dirty and getting some tiny pebbles in my shoe that made the last mile or so pesky.

I only timed the portion of the run on the gravel river trail -- nobody seems to know for sure what the distance of the trail is (I have to go to VF website and do some research) but consensus was 6 miles round trip. My time: 1:08:56. That's an 11:29 pace. I can't seem to get away from that. I did the 4/1 interval. I am still really conflicted about that. It really seems like cheating to me but I can see that it works. I feel great post run, pretty good during the run, and I passed a bunch of people who had started before me. It seems to be working. Maybe I just need to try a different (longer?) interval.

We also ran from the visitor center parking lot, across the river bridge and to the trail. My guess is that this is a mile or maybe even a little more than that. On the way back, I walked the first half and ran middle and walked the end. I guess my total for the day was somewhere between 7 and 8 miles.

I went shoe shopping after the run. I need to get another pair of shoes and maybe two because I'll be putting in so many miles for the runs and for the 3-Day. I was feeling a little thrifty so I didn't want to buy a new pair just yet but when I discovered a pair of Gel-Nimbus VI (the previous model of my current shoe) I snapped it up for the bargain price (ha ha ha) of $99. I read online that the only real difference between them is a narrower toe box on the VI than in the VII so I went for it. The best part is that they are pink. Love 'em!

I think that between these two and the supernovas I'll be good for the halfs and the 3-Day and then I can get a new pair for Philadelphia Marathon if I need them. I'm not 100% I'll be wearing the Supernovas at all for the 3-day though, so I may need another pair yet.

Tomorrow is the Philadelphia Triathlon and I'm volunteering to help. I have to be there at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am but it should be a fun day. I'm a little worried about the athletes though -- it's going to be a really hot, humid day. Not ideal for racing.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey, I just found your blog and wanted to say hi. I'm a racewalker who started out with Team in Training (I did the Rock N Roll Half in 2003). It's nice to find other walkers on the web (even if you are metamorphosing into a runner!). Also, I used to live in Philadelphia (Jenkintown, West Philly and Center City); I went to Penn and Temple for grad school. Anyway, good luck with your training and with Team in Training--my wife is a five year leukemia survivor so Team in Training is very special to us.