Marathoner's Special

I left work reasonably early last night...at 7:45 pm...and actually managed to have a productive night at home. I wrote up a couple of Christmas cards, took out the trash, and did some dishes...all things that have been neglected as I've accrued over 18 hours of overtime this week so far. This morning I opted to come in late to work in order to fit in my long run - an almost 2 hour run that my coach calls the Marathoner's Special. I parked downtown then headed over to the YMCA in Eau Claire so I could drop off my gear there. It felt pretty comfortable out as the temperature was hovering around 1°C and I was running just after 6:00 am. The workout called for a 20 minute warm up, 50 minutes at a steady state pace, then 4 x 5:00 intervals at a tempo pace, followed by 2:00 at a steady state pace. Then finally cool down. Because this run was so focused on pace I wanted to run downtown where it is pretty flat. My neighborhood is so hilly that it would have been difficult to try and run at the right paces all of the time. I was really slow on my warm up - a lot slower than I normally am - and I was worried that I was going to be struggling to hit my pace targets. Surprisingly though I was able to snap into a steady state pace right away and hold it there for the entire 50 minutes. The tempo intervals were a bit tougher, but I still managed to snap into my pace really quickly. The run went really well and I finished up with 11.79 miles in just under two hours. I ran four ~3 mile loops around the river as I definitely wanted to stick to the well lit and busier areas since my run was completely in the dark the entire time. After that it was back to the Y to hurry up and get ready and head in to work. I definitely picked the right time of day to get my run in. Snow is starting to blow in now and the temperature is starting to drop. The only downside is that between lack of sleep, extra hours at work, an early morning and a long run...my brain feels fried... Thank goodness I've got Indian food with a friend and a massage today to help unwind. Then it will be back to the office all weekend long...

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By the way, Runners' Lounge interviewed me for Open Mic Friday! If you want to read the interview, then head on over here.