Getting Lapped and Long Run Sunday

Yesterday, I went to the park with my girls to ride their bikes. It turns out that only the oldest one, Katie, age 7, wanted to ride. She's been looking for challenges lately and decided that she wanted to ride 10 times around the park. It's quite a large park as there were 2 adult flag football games going on. I brought my Garmin so I could run my 5 mile recovery run there. In the beginning Katie and I ran/biked together. Then she started to speed up. I tried to stay with her, but would have to maintain an 8:00/mile pace. Knowing that my 17 miler was the next day, I decided that it would be better to run slowly. Eventually she lapped me and then ran my last lap with me. She is really turning out to be quite the athlete. She may become the first triathlete in the family.

For my 17 mile long run this week, I decided to run it early on Sunday morning. I got up at 4:45 a.m. and had some coffee and a bagel. As Burger mentioned in his post earlier this week about his early morning runs, I then spent the next hour waiting for the digestive system to go to work. After feeling cleansed, I set out for my run. The plan was to run 3 out and backs in different directions, using my home as a base to fuel and get more water. The first loop was 5.5 miles total. I ran north from my home and ran through the neighborhoods of the kids that I teach. I wanted to run a little farther, but my digestive system, unfortunately, didn't cooperate, so I had to head home to tend to business. The first loop was run around 9:45 pace as it took some time for my legs to wake up.

After fueling up with a Chocolate Expresso GU and water, I set out for my next 5.5 mile loop. This time I ran west from my home on a route that I usually run. Nothing unusual on this loop, although I was amazed at how many runners were already out at this time (7 a.m.). I picked up the pace a little bit and averaged around 9:20 pace. I once again fueled up and then put on a water belt for the last 6 miles.

My last loop was due east and headed for the start of the Tour of California. The final leg of the bicycle race, won for the 3rd time by Levi Leipheimer of the Astana team that Lance Armstrong rode with, started off in the town next to where I live. The race didn't start until 12:00 p.m. so when I arrived around 8:15 a.m., no bikers were there. The start of the race was a little farther than I expected, so I ended up running almost a mile more than I planned. My legs were definitely feeling it on this loop, but the adrenaline kicked in after passing by the Tour of California starting area. The last 3 miles were run at around an 8:50 pace. Here are the numbers for the run (including pit stops and walking around the Tour of California area):

17.74 miles/2:51:20/9:40 mile pace

Taking the advice of Aron, I soaked my legs in cold water in my bathtub after my run. I didn't use ice, but it sure felt like there was ice in the tub. My legs went numb within the first minute, so I was able to sit in the tub for about 10 minutes. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and if my legs are less sore. If not, the good news is that next week is a step-down week. After 46 miles this week, next week's plan is only 37 =)