A glorious 14 mile run

Yesterday, I went out for my highly anticipated 14 mile run.  If you remember last week's long run was a complete fail, as I was having stomach issues and was running a quicker pace than I normally do.  I couldn't run up any of the hills and by the last two miles, I was walking mostly.  This run was a complete 180 from last week's run.  I felt amazing and killed those hills!  The temperature was unlike anything we have had here lately.  I woke up early as usual to beat the heat, and realized it was only 62 degrees outside.  I checked the weather.com and found out it was going to be in the 60's all morning and early afternoon, so I went back to sleep for a while.  I ended up running at 9:30, and on top of the cool temperature it was overcast, so there was no sun beating down on me.  It was the absolute PERFECT running situation and I thrived.  Now, if only the weather could do a repeat of yesterday for the day of my actual race!

I started off at the Capitol where the race will begin.  I was having some dificulty with the first mile, as I normally do, but I quickly settled into a groove and was fine after that.  There were several people out running the CDR course yesterday.  I wondered where these people have been because I have been religiously training on this route for weeks and weeks and weeks....14 to be exact.  I didn't encounter anybody on the hills, just on the flat.  My goal was to take it easy and keep between an 11-11:30 min/mile pace, even on the hills.  I think during the actual race I'm going to keep that pace on the hills so I don't wear myself out and run out of steam.  I was able to run that with ease, so I know I can push myself a little harder on race day if I want to.  I made it up the huge mile long hill with no problems and my heart rate teetering in the high 170's-low 180's.  I even had enough in me that I didn't have to stop at the top like usual, and I just kept going!  Woohoo, victory #1.  I did have to stop at the top of the next hill because it's just ridiculous.  It's an uphill that curves onto another uphill road, and it's just too steep.  But, I only walked for about 15 seconds, then I was back at it.  I stopped after the third hill for about 10 seconds, as I know this is going to be a crucial water stop for me.  At this water stop, the long downhill starts, which I just breeze through.  I don't mind having a slow pace on the hills because I can more than make up for it on the downhill. 

Once I got off the mountain, I ate some raisins and about 3 ounces of water and kept going.  I felt so great!  So great, in fact, that I found myself running about a 10:30 pace the whole rest of the way!  I wanted to slow down and take it easy, but I just felt so good, I kept on with the faster pace.  This is awesome because my goal pace is 10:00 min/mile.  If the conditions are similar temperature wise, I will definitely be able to bust out the 10:00 minute pace.  My legs started to feel heavy at mile 13, but I think it was mostly mental.  What a time to start having mental problems during a run, lol.  I just had 1 mile left, 2 if I were running the full course.  My husband was waiting for me at mile 14 to take me back to my car.  As soon as I saw his truck, I got a burst of energy and picked up my pace immediately.  That stupid mental block that was telling me I was tired was just a bunch of crap.  I had plenty left in me. 

This run gave me so much confidence, which I had lost from last week's run.  I proved to myself that I could manage the hills and the long distance together.  If the sun peeks its head on race day, I may struggle a little, but the race starts at 7:30 so I should be fine.

My splits:  11:19, 10:53, 10:53, 10:51, (hills-11:13, 11:16, 9:56, 9:22), 10:35, 10:38, 10:33, 10:33, 10:33, 10:30

Total miles: 14
Time: 2:29:12
Ave pace: 10:39
Ave HR: 163
Calories burned: 1688

Next run: Tuesday 5 miler