16 Miler

I slept a little later than I wanted to this morning. That put me a bit behind getting started with the run. I felt pretty good, if a little tired. I must learn to get to bed earlier. Period. Right now, I recognize that as my biggest training weakness. I just have to find the discipline to improve it.

I gave another read to Coach McMillan's marathon training long run philosophy. I decided that today would be the day that I try a long, slow distance without carbs. Now, mind you, I don't want to be doing any runs that are 2 minutes per mile slower than my marathon goal pace. 1:00 to 1:15 slower is more like it for me. So, I kept it near 8:40 for most of the run. And I did not take any carbohydrates before or during the run. I did not bonk like I thought I would. I finished the last two miles under 8:00, so I had something left at the end without any carbs. I may try this again to adapt to burning fat and to train my muscles to be more efficient at storing glucose. I was tired, but still felt strong at the end. I guess that next I need to try one of his recommended fast finish long runs.

I ran much of the run with Matt this morning. The run also had a few pleasant surprises. I had a chance to run a couple of early miles with my friend Lance and a few late miles with another friend Tim. The miles are much more enjoyable with good company! There's joy in living in a small town and knowing many of the people I see while I'm out running.

One other note is that today capped off a 63 mile week. WOW. I think that's the 3rd or 4th time that I've broken 60. I'd like to break 70 and maybe even 80 during marathon training. I'm starting to get a bit of confidence back that I had lost over the past few weeks.