First long run of Marathon Training

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This past Sunday marked the innaguaral long run of my marathon training for the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon.  I am embarrased to say that this was only my second 10 mile run since the 2009 Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon Last November. Following the race last year I cut my miles way back and just have not been able to get my long runs back to where they were even pre-marathon training last year.

Last year before starting Marathon Training using Hal Higdon's Intermediate II Marathon Training Guide for the 2009 Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon (My first 26.2) I was regularly running long runs up to 13 miles. This year I have built my shorter runs and started running 6 days a week (much more than I was running last year at this time) but my long runs have not been over 7.5 miles more than a few times.

As I have mentioned before, some of the reasons I believe that I have not gotten the long runs where they should have been before now are:

1. Not getting enough sleep making earlier Sunday mornings even harder.
2. No race goal over 10k, so no compelling reason to train much further.
3. Running Sunday's long runs with my girls and just don't keep going like I should.

Now, before you say anything...... I do realize what these are..... just excuses.  Even though they are just excuses they were still very effective in keeping my long runs short.  I am pleased to announce that I have effectively banished the excuse machine with the new Marathon Training Plan.  As I have mentioned in a previous post, I am using Hal Higdon's Advanced I Marathon Training Guide for this years marathon.

Sunday's 10 miler was much better than I anticipated.  I knew my body could do it, but mentally I just didn't know what to expect.  I ran an out and back to keep from trying to cut it short if I came too close to the house at any point during the run. 

My plan was to pace it between 9:30 and 10:00 minute miles since last year I ran all my long runs at a 10:00 minute/mile pace. The first 5 miles were kinda tough, but then it slowly turned fun as I did the turn around and started to head back home.  I was finally feeling in the groove and loving it. 

The pace ended up being under my low range at an overall pace of 9:19.  I now know I can do it so I have broken down one mental road block.  I will probably shoot for a little lower pace next time and try to get it down around the 9 minute mark. 

The starting temperature was a cool 74 degrees, but the 93% humidity was a kicker. By the time I got back home the temperature was a sunny 76 degrees with a new lower 85% humidity (if you can call that low)  Just one more bit of proof that I am crazy, I was more comfortable when leaving then when getting back.  Most people disagree with me (See the discussions on my Fanpage and DailyMile) but I would much rather run in humidity then the heat, especially the direct sunlight.

You can see my splits at my RunningAhead running log here.

How is your training coming along?  Have you started training for any upcoming races? 5k to ultra or anything in between.  I would love to hear about your upcoming races, goals, and training.

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