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July 10, 2005

Oh I remember this ...

My long run has gone up to 8 miles! Yesterday we did one of my favorite routes in town - it starts out on the regular route so you can head out with everyone, but then it turns and goes through an older fancy neighborhood with a canopy of trees and then finishes on a nice long downhill and runs through a little-used section of trail with a cute little bridge covered in Spanish poetry/graffiti. The route is much less fun during rush hour since it crosses some major streets - Austin is *not* pedestrian friendly in most parts. One of the streets you have to cross has a crosswalk with a little yellow sign pointing to it, but you'd have to have a screw loose to rely on the protection of that crosswalk. Plus, although the last little section on the trail is totally cute on a Saturday morning, when I've run on it at dusk by myself I've felt really vulnerable. So although it's my favorite it's not a real staple. It's more of a treat.

Calling yesterday's run a treat would a bit of a stretch, however. I guess because I haven't been running that much and because I've been somewhat lucky, I've been spared a lot of the 85-degree, 100% humidity runs. EW. My feelings when we finished yesterday were a cross between "Eight miles. Sweet!" and "Gross. Somebody hose me off. Why do I *do* this every year?"

Posted by jenandmats at July 10, 2005 12:16 PM

Comments

hey, per the comment on Scott's blog-why do you advocate starting slow? curious...

Posted by: Audrey at July 12, 2005 1:08 PM

Hey Audrey -
I have always been a slow starter by nature - even before I'd read a million training articles and books - and always had good results with it. I joined a big marathon training group in '99 and worried the first few weeks because I couldn't keep up at the beginning of the long runs with the people I ran with (and faster than) in the workouts. But once I got comfortable with just doing my own thing I'd find that I'd slowly move through the pack throughout the run and be able to finish stronger and faster than those who'd taken off at the beginning. Every time.

And then last summer when I did my high-mileage experiment I *had* to start my runs slow because I was constantly tired. But then I'd find I'd work into a groove and could just go forever.

I think the biggest reason for me is that if I start my run too fast - even just a little bit - I just feel terrible and get negative from the beginning. Telling myself I'm just going to ease into things makes it a lot less stressful, which makes it a lot more enjoyable, which makes me a lot more likely to get out there and not make excuses!

But physiologically I think it makes sense to let your body adapt to the activity - especially if you're like me and sit at a desk all day!

Posted by: jenandmats at July 12, 2005 1:27 PM