Tuesday has been my favorite day of the week since the Reagan era, but a recent training schedule enhancement of plopping my favorite workout of the week in its lap, the illustrious and lovely LONG run, has solidified Tuesday’s reign on top of the seven day heap.
Throughout my twenty years of marathon running, I have developed a belief that there is a Long Run Spectrum starting at 9 miles, and moving on up to 20+ miles. Or, starting at 80min., and sliding up to 3 hours+. Back in 2012 - 2014, when I was in the thick of my 35 By 35 quest, running 4-6 marathons a year, I settled on 16 miles as the sweet spot for my weekly long runs. I was running marathons so frequently that I didn’t feel I needed to go beyond that mark. However, since I started training for long distance (iron) triathlons again in 2016, during race builds I arrive at the cherished 16 mile stop quickly and stay briefly before heading further up the line to 20+ mile land and beyond, and although I will always raise my hand to chomp down more miles, my heart still belongs to the 16 mile long run.
I ran long yesterday, (Tuesday), not quite 16 miles, rather 15.5ish miles along a hilly route that is challenging, somewhat scenic, (it crosses two freeways), and was fun and felt good from start to finish. By “good” I mean my legs started feeling stiff, then heavy, then light, allowing a faster pace for the final mile that my mind encouraged and my heart appreciated; it was a "fun" way to end it, but not exactly the right way to end it.
Achieving a quick pace is not the point of the long run, rather it is gaining ease with discomfort. Therefore, when race day arrives that uncomfortable feeling is not novel, but normal, and speed can be introduced because a sturdy threshold has been built over many weeks one step at a time.
The song and video choice today is a fun song and clever video from the sibling group, AJR, Way Less Sad.