I usually do my long run on Saturday, but I did it today for this week. Tomorrow my wife and I are attending the wedding of her 1st cousin once removed, and the only time I would have tomorrow to run would be in the hot afternoon. To avoid that, I decided to do the run today.
My wakeup HR was 52, but I felt pretty good. When I left on the run, the sky was cloudy with a few sprinkles of rain. The shade temperature was in the mid 50s. Because of rain last night, I expected the canal road to be muddy so I used the long city street that I've mentioned in the past. I had a 10-15 mph headwind going out, and then the wind shifted and became a 5 mph headwind on the way back :(
During the first five miles, I felt strong and my body wanted to go faster. I decided to let my body set the pace so I could see how long that strong feeling would last. During the 5 miles, I ran a pace from the high 11 minutes to the low 12 minutes, and a few times I peaked at the high 10 minutes. I even ran up the first of two elevated switch-back sidewalks that cross over busy highways (about a 20 foot elevation change). But, by the time I completed 6 miles, my strength was declining, and at 6.5 miles I turned around. I did a lot of walking on the way back, short walks of 30 seconds or so to give my body a brief rest, and I walked all of the last 1.5 miles. I could have jogged most of that last part, but I decided to walk and spare my body some stress.
Overall, I'm pleased with the run. If I had gone slower on the way out, like I usually do, I would have done better on the way back, but I was curious to see how my body would hold up. In addition, my higher wakeup HR means my body was still tired from a few days ago. I slept well last night, though, and that should help my recovery over the weekend.
On Monday I won't have time for any running, so I'll skip my 5-mile rest run and take a complete rest on that day. My body will appreciate that rest. I've been feeling tired for a couple of weeks, and I think I should make this week a rest week. Maybe 7 miles on Wednesday instead of 10, and 10 miles on Saturday instead of 15.
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