Making peace with the distance

Woohoooooo took that long run yesterday, went for 12 miles instead of 10, did them all slow instead of mixing in some faster efforts. Originally, I had planned to go for 10 today and then 12 on Saturday and another 10 on Monday, but I figured if I just made peace with the distance earlier and if I could do it on tired legs (the mileage these past four days have been 10 mi, 3 mi, 6 mi treadmill intervals, 12 mi) then there really was no reason for me to continue pushing the volume into the next week. So I bit the bullet and went for it.

It was the first time I've ever taken two laps of the park, I had been really worried about my mental status but actually it wasn't that hard to just keep going onto the second lap. I really focused on just holding that nice steady sub-10:00 pace every mile and working through it mile by mile made it a lot easier. I also stopped twice for water at fountains, which I don't usually do, and that was probably much needed and very helpful. All in all, it was slow but I'm proud of how it went. It was by no means easy even to hold the slow pace I was going, probably a product of tired legs and midday heat. I finished feeling fairly put together though and even though my legs were definitely achey the rest of the day, they've also definitely had worse. The running has come a long way. And I'm glad the highest of the volume is behind me now. Here's the summary!

Yesterday's Workout: 12 mile long run (easy)
Summary: 12.68 mi, 2:04:42, 9:50 pace.
Pace splits: 9:38, 9:54, 9:53, 10:03, 9:53, 9:51, 9:57, 9:54, 9:44, 9:45, 9:47, 9:44, 9:50.

So some changes in plans for the rest of the week: I had been planning on swimming today but a bunch of personal things kept me up a little later than expected last night and put me behind a bit on the rest of life, so I'm probably going to take an interval trainer session on my bike this afternoon instead (have a fun/terrifying sprint set lined up). Tomorrow is a day off and now I'll be dropping some of the volume from next week, meaning my longest run will probably be Saturday for 10 miles with some fast efforts mixed in and everything else will be single digit mileage, specifics TBD (and probably quite flexible depending on how I feel). I really need to start focusing on studying for exams though! Must pass.

That's all I've got for now!

Much love,
Jess