The longest I have ever run: 18km. That was this morning. When I consider that I have been steadily boosting my distance by 2km each week, and that when I began at 10km that seemed far, I am really really happy with my progress. What felt best about this morning's run was that my pace was steady and consistent, my breathing calm, and I ran with ease, not distress. This was not a fast run. I went at approximately 6 minutes/km. My favourite moment of the run was on my fourth loop around, which had me at about 14km, and I thought, wow, this is amazing and I feel great! The funny thing was that all the external factors were negative: I was running uphill into a stiff wind, and my fingers were darn near frozen. But I felt fabulous. That shows the power of the mind, I think, and the access to that peaceful interior space that comes from difficult physical effort. Zen.
I remember when I was running last fall wondering how to gain endurance. The answer turns out to be quite simple: just keeping running, and slowly adding distance. I had become very comfortable running 8km by January, and so it's just been a steady incremental increase of distance, staying within my comfort range.
Today, I drank some sports drink and sucked on some sports gummies during the run. I also ate a banana and half of an energy bar, and drank a half cup or so of sports drink before leaving--I got up early and left as soon as I was dressed and ready. That might have factored in to making this run easier than the last one. Plenty of energy, having just risen. I am going against my beliefs by eating and drinking packaged stuff rather than homemade food-food, but I'm not an expert at feeding myself during such a long run, and I want to feel as well as possible. I must confess that the good feeling was temporarily turned into a feeling of slight illness when I stopped--it didn't last, though. Probably about fifteen minutes of feeling slightly ill, not dreadfully off, but I could imagine feeling much worse had I pushed myself to go faster.
I need to keep doing the shorter faster run, in order to up my speed over longer distances.
Wow. I really like running, and I really like running for a long way.
2 comments:
Oh boy, I see a marathon in your future. May I recommend the Vancouver marathon? I have done it 3 times - I know, a little far away, but maybe down the road? There are lots of hills and you wind through so many of the interesting parts of Vancouver.
I also want to do the Rock N Roll marathon in San Diego or the New York Marathon one day. Train together?
Am I getting ahead of myself? I get excited when someone says they like running! Me too!
T :)
How about a nice flat marathon to start?? :)
I'd love to train together. To be honest, I've never considered doing a marathon. I thought I'd do a token half-marathon just to say I'd done it, but now that I'm getting more fit and able to run longer, the thought of marathon does not seem so crazy or out of the realm of possibility.
Okay, I'm in. Let's dream. Let's train together for a marathon!!! Seriously. That sounds exciting.
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