Sunrise at 7 miles - 3 hours 20 min run to start the weekend

I’ve taken to blogging only the either very special or relatively long (or both) runs that I make. I’ll also probably keep you updated on my races –

This one started early but later than I’d hoped – 5:15 a.m.
Target – 3:20
Target pace – 9:50(ish)

Actual – 3:23 (yes!)
Miles – 22 (not that it matters particularly)
Average pace – 9:14 (a good and a bad thing as will be discussed)

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/SLCTF4B4WJIRIQIYZB7M6U5SIA
Mile 1 – 9:23
Mile 2 – 9:30
Mile 3 – 9:00
Mile 4 – 8:38
Mile 5 – 8:56
Mile 6 – 9:12
Mile 7 – 9:36
Mile 8 – 9:39
Mile 9 – 8:47
Mile 10 – 9:31
Mile 11 – 9:25
Mile 12 – 9:16
Mile 13 – 8:42
Mile 14 – 8:56
Mile 15 – 9:10
Mile 16 – 8:27
Mile 17 – 8:57
Mile 18 – 9:23
Mile 19 – 9:14
Mile 20 – 9:33
Mile 21 – 9:46
Mile 22 – 9:38
Average pace – 9:14 min/mile
Average heart rate 147
Average heart rate was 145 for the first 2:13 and 151 for the second 1:09.

Red line = heart rate
Blue line = pace
Green line = height (as per GPS)

The morning started out cool and I wasn’t in a rush to get into it. I was working hard to keep my heart rate down over the early miles – yet it was relatively tough to keep my heart rate down in the high 130’s as I’ve been doing most of the time on my long runs, still the 138- 145 range is okay (I hope that I can get down to something like an 8:45 pace at that range for the big day, but we’ll get there, slowly).

But the course was hilly – with 1500 feet of climb (as well as downhill) – I checked it against the elevation chart for the NYC Marathon and it’s not even close. The marathon’s highest point is on the Verrazano Narrows bridge – not surprising – but what is relatively surprising is that for all of the talk about bridges (there are 5) it’s relatively flat throughout. My neighborhood isn’t – the highest point that I recorded on this run was 365 feet, so not so much higher, but this run hit 350, 125, 280, 52, 354, 161, 360, 149, 265 – so the rolling hills of Central Park look tame in comparison. That said, they must be respected especially after mile 23+!

This was something of a hybrid run – long run with some components of a tempo run, in that I was at least playing with my target pacing – still my goal was to finish the entire 3:20 and to see where I I’d end up. It was very clear that pushing the pace up into the 8:30’s wasn’t good. Also, although I knew I it would pay off in the long run, I just wasn’t able to keep down at 9:50 either – so I suppose that the 9:14 pace was acceptable.

Post run I jumped in the ice bath, drank a recovery shake and got on with my day. My legs felt much sorer the next day (Sunday) but are back to normal by Sunday evening (now, when I’m blogging). So all in I’m pretty happy with the result.

I felt as though I could have completed 4 more (and a couple of tenths to boot!)