long run, sortta

This week's group long run was 14 miles. yep, that's a cut back. see, every fourth week is reduced mileage, to sort of give your body a rest. i know it doesn't sound like much, but dropping 4 miles is really a nice break. the only thing is, and i have made fun of other people for this, that i ran fast on the way back. running faster during a cut-back is just plain dumb. what energy you save in milage you expend in speed. here's my story:

tc just couldn't bring herself to get up that early, she's had a rough week, and all that Wii playing puts a strain on the body that only a good night's rest can fix. well, since tc wasn't there, i wanted to shorten my run and get back to a warm bed (with her in it). my return trip was far faster due to the compound effects of a: not having her there to tell me to slow down and b: not having her there and wanting to get home quickly to snuggle up with her. so yeah, on the return i left the group with 4 miles to go. the first two miles were by myself at a 9:40 pace (as opposed to my self-selected 12 minute pace group). it was then that i spotted another CARA training group at a water stop. since i cant pace myself for shit i figured i'd be best to hang with them and let them set the pace.

at times their pace seemed faster, at times it seemed slower. turns out they were the 9:30 pace group. it figures i'd do the last 2 miles at an even faster pace than running alone without knowing.

while it was good to know my body will run at a sub 10 minute pace, it was not good for my body to do so. i was sore after the run, even more so than after the 18 miler last week. buh. that was not smart.

oh well, time to focus. next sunday is the 20 miler. the longest of our group runs. the longest pre-race run of the program. the longest i have run in a long time.

but first, tc's b-day on wednesday...hooray!