Sunday, July 29, 2012

diary of a long run


I normally try to do my long run (75-90 min) on Friday or Saturday but I've never really been happy with it.  I do medium (hourish) runs on Monday and Wednesday and it always felt like a long week by the time that Friday came along so I've been toying with the idea of moving the long run around.  Sunday doesn't really work as Monday is a medium run.  I think it is more of a mental thing as my legs feel pretty much the same all the time, but I still wanted to try moving things around.  Saturday morning I'm trying to catch up on leftover Friday night work and long runs in the hot tropical sun just don't go over as well as they used to.  I can do a short run midday but prefer to shift the longer ones to early evening when the heat is not bad (or take advantage of a rainstorm and go then).
After yesterday's aborted bike ride, I figured I'd try this morning, do a short run Monday and move the medium runs to Wed and Fri and see how that went.  After this morning I'm LOVING the idea of a Sunday long run.  Who knew it was so much cooler in the early morning?  Ellen opened and obtained 7 pesos worth of coco water for me yesterday (I pay her to provide me with coco water) and it really is the best hydration I've found.  I had a bottle of Gatorade mixed from yesterday's ride (which got shortened due to too many issues) that I didn't use/need so I got that out for the 2nd loop for today's run.  Everyone was sleeping when I left, the sun had about an hour in the sky (mas o menos) and I had no vertigo.  Yet.  The first lap was lovely and incredibly cool.  It looks like one nest has either hatched or animals got into it as a flock of birds was fighting over leftovers and there were shells all over the beach.  I seem to remember it as being one of the first turtle nests on that beach so I'm hoping it was a hatching.  I was shocked to see all the "foresty" areas of jungle where the bush grows over the path were in total shade!  What a concept! 

The second loop was a bit warmer but I was really doing quite well until about 65 minutes in, which tells me that I need more long runs under my belt.  I can handle anything up to a hour with ease and feel good the entire time but after about 65 minutes it gets harder so before I bump up the runs to 5 hours per week I'm going to hang at 4.5 hours for the next week or 2 and see if that makes a difference.  By the time I hit my stretching spot the tourists were starting to trickle in and the day was heating up.  I was really glad I'd gotten my run in.  After last night's ride I have decided that I'm going to abandon the aero attempt as I really just need to get more hours in the saddle.  I'm going back to the Bontrager and if/when an Adamo shows up at our doorstep I'll think about going aero but for now I'm missing out on too much training trying to find a comfortable position in aero.  Last picture is from my stretching spot and I'm actually stretching in the picture - my favorite for ass muscles.  Love that stretching spot. 

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