Sunday, February 3, 2008

long runs

Back to yesterday:
8am group training in Central Park started with the Paris group branching off and running on the outside of the park.  Great, in that I got to meet a lot more people training for Paris; sad, in that I didn't get to run with my pals Amy and Meryl.  Great, in that there was tons of new scenery (garden on the northeast end of the park anyone?); sad, in that we were forced to run reaaaally slow with Coach Ross (not the "with Coach Ross" part, but the "reaaaally slow" part.) It's all about forcing yourself to hold back in the first part of the race - save your energy so that you can pull it out at the end.  I get it, but boy is it hard.

We ran on the outside of the park so that we could experience a different surface - something closer to the cobblestones of some Paris streets.  I feel I have a little leg up on this one, as the 10K I ran in Paris in October took us over cobblestone quite a bit.  The pavers around the park were a little less "cobbly," shall we say.

So I finished the outer loop with the group,  then ran the inside lower 5 with a smaller group, and then the lower loop again by myself.  I finished 1/2 of the last mile forcing myself up and down  Cat Hill (damn cat) and managed to run into Amy and Meryl as we headed in.  14 miles total and I felt pretty good.

By the end of two shows, however, I was exhausted.  My muscles felt okay, but boy was I tired. So off to bed when I got home - only to get up at 7:30 today for the Gridiron Classic 4 mile race.

More on that tomorrow.  Important milestones in detail then. :)


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