Wednesday Long Run: 20* looks like fantastic running weather

My schedule called for a 9 mile run as the 'long' run this week.  I had a bit of a wild hair and decided to do a 10 miler instead.  Criteria for the run was that the path had to be well plowed, and not along the lakes.  This is the time of year I'm generally relegated to running in circles on an indoor track, or using the elliptical.  Amazingly, it seemed like a good day to head outdoors for a run so I was really excited.

Plan for the run: I had my iPod set to 4:1 intervals, which would be the bulk of the run, and then running the last 1.5 miles or so, because I have to run at least a mile per day without stopping.  I think intervals do not count for the streak.  I also planned to carry my camera and take lots of pictures. Sadly the scenery doesn't change much on the greenway so there's a bit of repetition in the subject matter.

Weather: It was 24* or so, mostly cloudy.  What does the sun look like again?  The wind was 5-7mph which sounds not so bad until that 7mph wind blows across an ice covered lake on it's way to me.  Then it's not so much fun.  I wore two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, winter running shirt, wind proof vest and wind breaker.  I had gloves on for part of the run and kept my hat on the entire time. 

Route: I picked running along the Greenway because it met all my route criteria and I haven't been on it in a long time.  I wound up going further on the trail than I'd ever been before.  I also had a super easy turn around point.  Where the railroad tracks cross the trail, that's time to turn it around.  The first part of the run was lonely, but around the turn around point I started seeing people.  Yes, people do bike on the Greenway all year round.  That's why they plow it.

Execution: Intervals are fun.  4:1 is working at bit better than 5:1 or 5:2 right now.  I was focusing on an even pace, which got a bit out of hand at the end. I wound up running miles 8 and 9, and then using 10 as a cool down.  I could feel my heart rate climbing then in a way that may not have been so good.  The camera was fun for the first half, but then my right shoulder and arm got tired of carrying it so I packed it away and didn't use it again until the end of the run.

Nutrition: In a new strategy I carried dried apricots and ate a couple every so often.  Read: whenever I felt like it.  I had zero upset stomach issues and seemed to stay on top of the hunger nicely.  I carried 2 little water bottles in my belt pack and sipped from them a few times.  I was glad to have them but tried not to get carried away and make myself sick.

Pictures: I took lots of pictures.  Some are blurry and I have to go purge them from my hard drive in a moment but very glad I took the camera along.