9 Mile Long Run

Today was my day for the nine mile 'long run' (again).  As you may recall, I already ran this distance a few weeks ago.  But since I had my setback with my foot I decided to redo the Week Two training plan.

Exercise
The weather was great for running today.  There was a little wind, at my back to begin and in my face at the end of the run.  But still it was a joy being outside on a day like today... 50s and sunny and SPRING. :)  I set my Garmin for a 9:30 pace and for the most part I stayed pretty much on-pace for the run.  You can see in the chart that some miles were better than others, but on average I was only off a few seconds either way.

Physically
I felt good today.  My legs didn't tire until the last mile or so.  My lungs were strong as were my back and my shoulders.  Digestive-wise... that was another story.  Last night we'd eaten out (Thai food) and even though I'd gone to the bathroom before I began my run, at mile 4 I began to have a certain urgency in my bowels that I couldn't satisfy until I was home 45 minutes later.  That was quite a distraction!

Additionally I could feel that a toenail was giving me problems throughout the run.  I don't know how this suddenly cropped up as I felt absolutely no problem yesterday.  But there it was... scratching and digging into my flesh the entire run.  It wasn't so bad that I had to stop and walk (or call a cab), but bad enough to make me uncomfortable in my normal gait.

Nutrition
I went out this morning at around 10:00am after having woken up at 8:30 (or thereabouts).  We'd been up late watching TV last night but I was pretty well rested when I left.  Since we ate more yesterday than I normally do (with our guests visiting we do things differently... I'll have to be careful about that when the marathon comes since we'll have guests then too) this morning I was still feeling full.  I didn't eat anything before heading out, and that was OK.  I had lots of energy from the food yesterday (chicken curry with rice, mango with sticky rice, and later cereal before bed).  As I mentioned though, the digestive after-effects of the meal did bother my run.

I ingested a Gu gel pack at mile 4 (Chocolate) and that seemed to help the second half of my run.  I like that flavor but I'm still not used to the texture and consistency of the gel.  I think I need to take it with more water.

So, overall I was very happy with the run despite the digestive and toenail issues.

Next week is a slow week, and then another week of building my mileage base towards the marathon.