Did 14 after work tonight. Very hilly. The concrete path was feeling pretty firm by mile 12 or so.

It was awesome to start the run headed west into the sunset knowing that I would still be running well after it got dark. I took my hydration pack, xtra gear, headlamp, food, etc. and treated it as a simulated ultra pace run. I dialed in the cruise-control to a HR of 140 and chugged along. I think I went a little too slow at first, I really hit rock bottom at mile 6 and felt lousy. Picked up the pace by about a minute and felt much better in another mile or so. Ended up at a 10.5 pace overall. Avg HR 142. Right where I wanted to be.

I’m not going to be able to run for the next few days, so I decided to tackle a hilly 12 miler before my break.map of route

I started at 6:30 pm with my headlamp and a lot of warm gear on. The temperature was 8 degrees! Thankfully, there wasn’t any wind which made a huge difference. I dressed perfectly and was pretty comfortable for the whole time.

I took it really easy for the first several miles. Had some knee pain at mile four, but worked through it. Once I knew I had it in the bag, I lit it up and ran at a 7’ish pace for the last couple of miles. Finish time was 1:56. The condensation around my face combined with the cold air caused it to go numb as if I had been to the dentist. Luckily that subsided once I got in the car.

There was enough ambient light from a nearby road that I was able to run 80% of the way with my headlamp turned off. That was nice, because with my senses a little bit suppressed, I was able to concentrate a lot better on my breathing and stride. I tried really hard to stay smooth.

My previous long run was 8.5 miles back in October – before the knee troubles set in. It’s been a long road back, but I feel like I’m finally getting there. I’ll be really curious to see how the legs feel in the next day or two, kinda felt like the Tin Man getting out of the car…