24 Miles - 4:06
I'm ramping up my long run mileage some to get ready for the HAT 50K in March. This run was a little different in that I tried out my race strategy after about the first hour of running: I ran a mile and then stopped to walk for 45 seconds. I'm glad I practiced. It had some good things about it-- I was able to sustain a 7:50 - 8:30 mile pace much further into the run. And it was pretty damn hard to start running again after walking in the later miles.
The last two miles were just garbage. I was just trying to tack two more miles onto my normal 22 mile run. It was pretty unsatisfying. I just felt like I was running in circles for the last two miles, just waiting for the mileage meter on my Forerunner 305 to click over.
That said, I was satisfied with the run overall. When I finished I thought honestly: could I now go on to run another 7.1 miles? And I think I could have. It would have been painful! But I woud be able. Cool.
Of course you could have! And it's amazing how fast the miles click by during a race too. I highly recommend practicing walking too, sounds silly but the faster you can walk the better off you are in an ultra.
ReplyDeleteCMB: you're right, I'm glad I practiced. I was shocked at how hard it was to start running again after those increasingly short 45 seconds after 24 miles. The technique worked, too. My legs weren't nearly as beat, and my splits were virtually the same as when I don't mix walking with running.
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