Nine is Fine

Because we got home from Arizona too late for me to run with the running group on Monday night, I pushed back my 9 mile tempo run until Tuesday evening. It was the first time in a while that I've run by myself. I almost didn't remember what to do!

My Garmin must have been experiencing jet lag or something because it took forever to find a signal and then it took almost two miles to accurately reflect my pace and distance. I was pretty surprised to look down at the first beep to see I'd already gone 1 mile in 4:35! Oh, Garmin. You're so optimistic.

Admittedly, since the first two miles were way off the charts in terms of distance and pace which threw off my final pace and mileage totals (both wildly overestimated) I'm slightly skeptical of the rest of the mile times. I know I went more than 8.5 miles since I ran a little more than my usual 8.5 mile route. And I *think* I hit my goal pace of 9:30 per mile. At least, the effort felt harder than usual but not so hard I wanted to die.

I was, however, very grateful for the water fountains along my route. I didn't think to bring water with me and even though the air temperature and the humidity were both much lower than they have been I was still sweating buckets. I could feel my fingers swelling up which, according to Dr. Google, could be due to dehydration. Strangely, I had to stop to pee at the park's bathrooms which I normally don't have to do. Apparently my body didn't think it needed all that water I drank during the day. I beg to differ!

Running by myself was actually really nice. I had my headphones on and was pumping my usual running tunes but I wasn't paying much attention to them. I was just in a groove, not thinking about much, and just running. Even all the pauses for traffic and water and a bathroom break didn't really throw me off.

What I was thinking about when I got done, though, was how shredded my legs felt. For the first few miles of my run my calves were super tight and my left shin was painful. My left knee was also issuing some complaints but as I warmed up all those aches and pains went away. Also, towards the end of my run I felt as though I was getting some chafing from my sports bra but it doesn't seem to have materialized. However, when I got home my legs were SORE. I've never been so sore. It was so uncomfortable that I actually had a hard time getting to sleep. I don't know if my effort was really such that it would cause so discomfort or if it was a product of dehydration. I'm thinking the latter.

Regardless, even with the sore legs and the need to drink a gallon of fluids when I got home, this was a great run. I felt strong and fast and capable. I like that feeling :-)

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Note: It appears the Garmin couldn't find my starting point when it finally did acquire a satellite signal which is why my mileage says 9.5 instead of 9 and my overall pace is sub-9 minute miles.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 626 ft Location: River Forest, IL Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 08/24/10 Up/Downhill: [+78/-82] Time: 06:10 PM Difficulty: 2.4 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 9.50 miles Time: 1:24:23 Speed: 6.8 mph Pace: 8' 53 /mi Calories: 1122 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 4' 35 -4' 18 13.1 +6.3 0 ft 2 5' 24 -3' 29 11.1 +4.3 0 ft 3 10' 32 +1' 39 5.7 -1.1 +6 ft 4 9' 16 +0' 23 6.5 -0.3 0 ft 5 9' 21 +0' 28 6.4 -0.3 -9 ft 6 9' 25 +0' 32 6.4 -0.4 +10 ft 7 9' 45 +0' 52 6.2 -0.6 0 ft 8 10' 47 +1' 54 5.6 -1.2 0 ft 9 9' 15 +0' 22 6.5 -0.3 -9 ft end 9' 36 +0' 43 6.2 -0.5 0 ft Versus average of 8' 53 min/mile

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