Long Run Wednesday - Fog and Construction and Lakes. Oh my!

I love Lake Cedar and the Luce Line Trail and I haven't been out there since last fall on my bike.  I was super excited to get to the high mileage weeks on the training schedule for a chance to head back that way.  Yes, I know I should get my bike out.  Sigh.  I lucked out with my work schedule and the rain and was able to get in a nice run this morning.

Plan for the run: I have an actual time goal for the Twin Cities Marathon.  I'm not telling you what the goal is, but I'm willing to acknowledge that one exists.  So I wanted to keep the paces around 11:00 and for sure under 11:30.  I always exclude the first mile or two in my pacing plans.  I consider those warm up miles.  At 5:30am I needed some warm up time.

Weather: Super foggy at the start of the run, and the fog burned off as the day went on.  It was in the high 60s the entire run, started with around 90% humidity and burned off to somewhere in the 60% family.  I was sweaty and gross.

The course: Fifteen miles was a bit of a stretch in the mileage category, but I really wanted to see Lake Cedar so it was worth it.  I'm thrilled to report this is my first long run in a long time where I haven't fallen down.  That's a bigger deal than you'd think.  There seem to be these tiny little frost heaves on the running paths all over this year.  They added an extra obstacle, just to keep things interesting.  There's a fair amount of construction on this course, especially along the Greenway and Kenilworth trails.  I think they are rebuilding or replacing a sewer.

Times:
Miles 1 and 2 - warm up miles so I wasn't concerned about time.
Mile 3 - I don't know what my problem was there.
Mile 4 - there we go
Mile 5 - bit slower; stopped to eat a gel
Mile 6 - Good.  And happy to see Lake Cedar.
Mile 7 - a little too happy to see Lake Cedar because I'm dawdling
Mile 8 - stomach has entered attack mode; running faster will take the edge off
Mile 9 and 10 - dear stomach, please forgive me
Mile 11 - truth: I stopped to, um, go.  I didn't get the gadget paused for a bit, so I have no idea how long this mile really took me
Mile 12 - I'd love to blame that time on a stoplight or the hill, but truth is my stomach still needs a moment
Mile 13 - Hill.  And stomach, but the stomach started to calm down.
Mile 14 - That one I can blame on the stoplight at Lyndale Ave.
Mile 15 - Picking up a bit for the last mile. I really considered this a cool down mile so wasn't super concerned with the time there either.

Stretched out in the grass before going inside.  Then: Ice bath - Holy F^!% that hurt.  The moment I got in my ankles went from that numb feeling to the pain feeling that comes after numb.  Ankles?!? 

Learned for next time - I had a really hard time pacing myself.  It wasn't so much that I couldn't hold the right pace as I couldn't remember what the pace felt like.  So I got kind of wild.  And then my stomach went on strike.  Goal for the next few longer runs is to get used to holding an 11:00 pace, just to see how it feels so I can remember on race day.