Life in old legs

This morning, I found a little life in these old legs. Megan, Mike, and I met at the Huntersville Business Park for a 22 mile run with a 10 mile tempo run thrown in the middle.

First off, the first 10 miles were uneventful. That is other than my legs feeling really tired. We cranked out the first 10 miles in 75 minutes.

Then, the fun started.

Several weeks ago, we ran this loop as part of an 8 mile tempo run. Basically, the course has some good up hills in the first 3 miles and then is rolling to flat over the remainder of the course.

To make the course 10 miles, we just extended it down to and around North Meck. High School.

So around 7:00 AM we were off. Mike, being the fast man up, took the lead while Megan and I dropped in to follow. Or to say it a little differently, we were trying to hold on.

Mike did a good job over the first 3 hilly miles running some 6:24 miles. Then, as the course flattens out, he dropped a couple of 6 minute miles.

With each passing mile, I was monitoring my heart rate. I didn't want to punch through the top too quickly and flame out before the end.

Here's where things really started to get interesting. I look down at my Garmin. My heart rate is 175. Ugh, okay I am getting a little tired. My Garmin then flashes the mile alert: 5:50. Now, I know why I am feeling terrible and my why heart rate is so high. And, keep in mind; this was mile 15 of a 22 mile run.

I am thinking Mike is going to let the pace slide for the next mile but no, we pop another 5:50 mile. Okay, this was mile 16. How many more 5:50 miles does Mike have and can I hold on for any more? Mike goes on to run another 5:50 for mile 17 and 6:01 heading back through the hills in the business park for mile 19.

About this time, Mike knows we just passed the 9 mile point when hears my Garmin beep and ask about the beep. I couldn't lie to him. The beep was an alert that my heart had just passed 180.

So it was time to let up. I cruised home maybe 50 meters behind Mike with a 61 minute 10 mile tempo. Megan was just a few minutes behind.

We then took a couple of miles for a very easy cool down run to bring the total mileage to 22 miles.

Heading into this run, I never expected to run 3 x 5:50 late in a 22 mile but it was a good confidence booster for me. I feel like my legs might be starting to round back into running shape after spending much of the summer riding my bike.

Next up, we have 12 mile temp on 9/11/10 which I expect to be just as interesting. If you are around and want to join in let me know.

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner