Sunday Long Run (10 miles - 1:29:34 - 8:56 min/mi pace)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Sunday Long Run (10 miles - 1:29:34 - 8:56 min/mi pace)

Awesome day today. My wife and kids joined me for the first time during one of my runs. We traveled to my new favorite running spot the WB&A Trail and let the kids ride their bikes for about a half mile while my wife, dog and I chased casually after them. I saw them back to the car so they could go off running errands and I began my run in earnest.

Today's run was a 7 mile marathon pace run. I missed yesterday's 4 mile easy pace run due to having a seriously sore groin from trying to effectively play defense in my playoff flag football game. Flag football had been in hiatus due to bad weather and my muscles controlling lateral movement have not been getting regular use. This is an argument for cross training.

Getting back to the run... I ran my standard slow, one mile warm-up and tried to pick up the pace. I felt my groin strain with every stride in the first few miles and since the trail had intermittent patches of heavy snow and ice I knew the marathon pace was not my goal - getting home healthy was. I ran the entire WB&A Trail for the first time (it is 5.5 miles long). On the way home I found that I would not be able to get back home within my projected miles, but didn't care as I could make up for some of yesterday's lost miles. I wasn't committed to running to failure, so as I got tired in the last few miles I allowed the pace to drop and even walked some.

The average pace for my seven mile marathon pace segment was 8:34 min/mi.

Training retrospective thus far

I have been doing my longer runs without fueling, only occasionally carrying Gatorade and/or water. I have been telling myself that I am doing this to train my body not to rely on fuel for longer periods of time, but really its because I hate to spend money and I have gone to a store to buy training supplements. I also need to get new shoes. My Buckeye Outdoors account has been bugging me about my own projected maximum mileage for over 150 miles. My right forefoot stone bruise is an indicator that the cushioning is breaking down.