Long run, 11 miles, 2:09:45; splits 10:21, 11:28, 12:24, 12:05, 10:30, 11:07, 15:47, 11:48, 10:38, 12:05, 11:32. Av HR 153.
WEEK 6; total miles 24 (4/5/4/11).
Weight 116, resting heart rate 48, fitness test 52.

A good run, but man, hills HILLS **HILLS**. The positive aspect is that first of all, I ran them all, and secondly, once I got home and looked at the GPS data, it made Steamtown seem so much more manageable! I ran up and down 6 hills, for a total of 1337 feet of elevation (gained and then lost again). If the info I have about the Forerunner is correct (that it doesn't take grade into account in its distance calculations, which makes sense), that's about an extra 1/2 mile! The longest continuous upgrade was 500 feet over less than two miles (that's the almost 16 minute mile). So when I look at the Steamtown course profile, the few hills look just puny! Not that that makes the long downhills any easier--I definitely need to start doing quad exercises etc.

More good stuff--Gatorade worked out just fine: I weighed myself before and after (first time I've done that) and was *exactly* the same, which means I am hydrating perfectly, and I had enough juice left to try taking the last 2 1/2 miles faster (not very noticeable in the splits because there were 2 big hills left). Bad stuff: on the first steep downgrade, I somehow landed wrong on my left foot and felt a spasm of pain through my leg. It happened two more times within a dozen steps but then didn't happen again, although that leg did start hurting a little bit around mile 9-10. I know that pronation is a shock-absorption method for the legs, and I was braking on that hill because it's so steep (when perhaps I would have been better off letting gravity run the train), so maybe my motion-control shoes were throwing me off balance? I took an ice bath afterwards, which I had planned on doing anyway, so hopefully that will help with soreness. I chickened out a little bit on the bath, using lukewarm water for the first few inches so it was easier to sit down in, then going to cold tap water and then dumping in only 2 trays of ice cubes (which was all we had anyway). It really does start to feel OK once the initial chill wears off, just like swimming in very cold water.

New wildflowers: pimpernel, a big fragrant pink flower I can't identify which was probably a garden escapee, and burdock (I never realized before that they actually do have purple flowers, like a thistle). There was a redtailed hawk calling loudly from a telephone pole, echoed by another, and it flew to another pole & then down to a tree while the other one approached. I couldn't figure out if they were saying "I'm here! Where are you?" or "My territory, stay away!"

It was fun to run roads I normally take to work, because it makes the distance seem more significant somehow! The first part I walk a couple of times a year since it's my Adopt-a-Highway road, but the rest was new to me on foot. Strange to run past the Tall Pines golf course--it's such a suburban sight. It seemed like a crazy thing to do, to build a golf course on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, but they must do a lot of business. I kept waving at cars (which I normally do, in part because it might be someone I know even though I can't remember/recognize people's vehicles, in part as a "thanks for sharing the road" gesture) but realized that I was getting funny looks because most of them were probably coming from the Binghamton area where you don't wave. Once I got down to Route 267, there was actually a decent shoulder to run on. Too many cars to be really relaxed, though, so I was glad to turn back onto a dirt road again.

I added toasted almonds to my recovery Cheerios, because a comment from someone who reads this blog led me to recalculate whether I was actually getting enough grams of protein in the milk (thanks, Ira!) Turns out I was using the 1-cup serving size on the milk carton instead of the 1/2 cup on the Cheerios box. I'm prone to silly mistakes like that (akin to the time I halved a recipe incorrectly and discovered that chocolate chip cookies with twice the butter are really, really good!) I've learned a lot from other people's blogs and now I'm learning from people who read mine (as well as learning from my own experiences as I write them). Reason enough to keep going. One thing I haven't mentioned, which I got from another blog, is that I bought a RoadID and I'm glad I did. Peace of mind to know that in the unlikely event I were involved in an accident, I wouldn't end up as a Jane Doe. I had never even thought about it until I visited the RoadID website. If you exercise alone, it's worth thinking about--not that solution specifically, but carry *something* with your contact info...
- posted by Hilary @ 5:34 PM