Change of Pace

9/18	10 miles	7:22 pace, .Did not miss the
9/19 #1	10 miles	7:37 pace _Puertorican humidity
#2	10 miles	8:40 pace
9/20	rest day to see if right heel will stop hurting
9/21	10 miles	7:52 pace
9/22	9 miles	7:30 pace
9/23	22 miles(at least)	7 - 8 pace, Rockefeller State Preserve
9/24	10 miles	8:30 pace

I rounded down on my mileage almost every day this week and there's a good chance that my long run on Saturday was closer to 23 miles than it was to 22, so I'm just throwing an extra mile into my total count. That's still probably being a little stingy, but I'm sure I've been light in my measurements some time in the past, so in the end it all evens out.

Now both of my heels are feeling a little achy, but I'm officially starting my taper so I really don't care. I'll stretch and foam roll and run increasingly less mileage at an easier pace and I'm pretty sure the issue will take care of itself.

My last long run went really well and I'm seriously indebted to my friend Kate for inviting me to tag along with her team up to Westchester on Saturday morning. It must have been something like the psychological boost you get when you know you're running your last mile repeat on the track, but I tackled the run pretty aggressively from the get go and the guys I was running with pushed the pace right along with me. I really tried to just stay relaxed and at a pace I could converse at, but maybe I was feeling a little bit that I had something to prove and didn't want to get left behind by the guys...while at the same time the guys probably pushed a little harder because they were running with a girl? Who knows. Whatever the reason, I think we all ran a little faster than we'd originally planned. Ultimately though, I felt pretty good about how it went and if I was a little beat up at the end, I think that had as much to do with the hills as it did with my pace. Plus, three hours of running is three hours of running, regardless of your speed.

I tried to be good and subject myself to an ice bath when I got home, but I don't think I'd really stockpiled enough cubes to get the water quite sufficiently cold. I sat in the moderately chilly water for about 15 minutes, but I don't know if there was any real benefit from doing so or not.