From the moment I parked in the parking lot I knew I was off to a bad start, because I really had to pee. And of course the Running Room store was closed for another 30 minutes!
Fortunately, I knew of a public place to go 1km down the road. So shortly after we set off as a group, I veered to the public restroom and wished the other runners a farewell. I knew I wouldn't be keeping up with them as I wanted to run much slower than last week, and I didn't want them waiting for me at the cost of their own training!
But alas, the restrooms were locked.
What's a girl to do? That was the only restroom I knew of for the next 15km...and it was locked. Ugh!
I had to go with Plan B, which involved a side-trek into some bushes. Not the best, I know! But what's a girl to do?! Well, if that didn't set my heart rate a-pounding....It took me quite a while to calm it back down and settle into my pace. Because yes: I was in the heart-rate training way of things.
The day was hot, and at around 15km I re-filled my water bottles in that other public restroom that I knew about. I wish I could run with more water, but my back problems make it limiting for me, and I carry only about 800mL of water. Or, more specifically, 500mL of electrolyte drink mixed with 300mL of juice (for calories and carbohydrate).
At around 19km, I could feel my energy starting to fade as my heart-rate began to jump higher, forcing me to slow down. These seems to be my fairly typical "slow down" point on the LSD days.
At 23km I really stopped caring about heart-rate at all: I opted to keep it under 75% (rather than under 70%), and was doing really well with it staying around the 72% mark. I was feeling pretty grim, and the distance was really starting to slog on me. I kept chanting down the mileage as I went, trying to think of how long it might take me.
At 26k I crossed paths with a friend from the Running Room. After quickly giving our run plans, she opted to turn around and join me. The pro: it really lifted my spirits and helped the last 3km fly by! The con: it also lifted my heart-rate, as we compromised on our pace: I ran a bit faster (going from an 8.30 to a 7.45 pace), and she slowed down. It was such a delight to have someone run with me those last few kms and give me the chance to stop focusing on myself. I didn't have the "break down in tears" moment of some other long runs I've done in the past when I finished, but that's okay with me! Nice to end it well when I had such an awkward start.
Total Distance: 29.5km
Total Time: 4:00:28
Average Pace: 8.09min/km
Average HR: 139bpm (72%)
It's a bit scary, thinking of how exhausted I felt today, when for the marathon I'm planning to go almost 13km farther at a much faster pace! T-(Minus)-8 weeks to go.
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