I’m happy to say that as the title of this post states, I had the best long run that i’ve had in quite some time. I managed to get 18.3 miles in today, up from he expected 17 miles I had planned to do (although I had the plan to go over that anyway, you know, push the effort a bit). I didn’t go on the normal route that I usually do since I have to stay local to the house here for work this weekend, but I think I found another part of the deep dark secret of completing the long run… here is what I did that helped:

1. Ran part of the course that i’m used to running every day, I went out and did my normal 10 mile route, and then added on to it from there. If you recall last time I had to stay around the house and get in a long run, I tried doing 4 4-mile loops, and it turned out to be terrible, it didn’t work well, this did.

2. I headed out early, like I do every other day. I got into the habit of trying to sleep in a bit on Saturday before heading out, then dragging around the house for a bit and then heading out. I actually was on the road by 5:30am, even on a Saturday and the surprising part was that I wasn’t alone. There were 4 people I passed before 6am on a Saturday, it was amazing. I find that if I just keep my routine, i’ll be in good shape and have a good run… now how I equate that to the marathons when I run them, we’ll have to see.

3. KEPT MY PACE! I found that my pace seems to be getting under control a little better, I can feel when i’m running too fast and can slow down, even when i’m on hills. It goes back to the whole subconscious thing, just let my body do the work.

Outside of those differences, I kept everything the same. Maybe the trail course that i’ve been running over the past months is part of the problem. Its a great course, but I know it too well now, I know about where I am and can average how long it is until I get done or between points, which allows my mind to take control of things. I wrote last week how I have to get away from worrying about my times, how far to go, etc … my theory is don’t think about it so much, and it goes much better, this is the proof. If I think back to the first time I did the trails on my long run, I did well because I didn’t know what to expect (as far as time, course, etc). I think that the plan should be to start mixing up my long run again so its new, fresh and exciting. I also think I have to start mixing up my weekday long runs on to new courses as well, or they will get stale.

I didn’t get to write much about the Baltimore marathon that I registered for on Columbus day weekend in October, it was smack dab in between the two marathons that I have scheduled (well, not exactly as much as I thought). Its actually 4 weeks after the Lehigh Valley Health Network Marathon, and then 6 weeks before the Philadelphia Marathon. I’m excited about the races because they’re ones that I haven’t done before, and I know both are good races, so I’m looking forward to them.

There is a weird sort of thing that i’m finding with being an early morning runner .. paper delivery people seem to befriend me. When I lived more north then where I am now, there was a guy in a beat up green Pontiac Sunfire that used to wave at me every morning, now its a guy in a tan Buick LeSabre that waves at me .. its a weird sort of thing, but something i’ve noticed.

Last thing today is that I have to get an ultrasound on my liver sometime after I call the doctor on Monday, apparently the blood work I went for last week came back with elevated AST levels again, which according to the doctor I spoke to, was ‘slightly elevated’, not sure its a reason for concern, but we’ll do what they ask us to I guess. I continue to tell them that i’m training for marathons, and the AST enzyme comes from the breakdown of skeletal muscle, which with running 60 miles a week, is going to happen .. nobody is listening to that I guess.

Well, on to rest, i enjoyed my peach milkshake from Chik-Fil-A, which was my treat after my long run, gotta go sleep it off … 🙂