As I mentioned earlier, this weeks long run was supposed to be 7 miles - but due to not completing the full 9 miles from last week, I made this week the 9 miler.
The nice thing about these long runs is that they are actually easy. They can be a mental challenge if you bore quickly, but for the most part, you just kinda put your body on autopilot and let your mind wander for about an hour and a half.
I've found that the ability to let your brain think of nothing in particular for extended periods of time is a gift - a talent, if you will. Not everyone has it. Laurie gets bored after about 5-10 minutes of an activity, and just doesn't understand what I mean when I tell her that my mind just wanders when doing something monotonous. The closest I can come to describing it is brain oxygen deprivation-caused ADD, where the most mundane things are just interesting enough to take your mind off running.
Not having a previously mapped 9 mile course, I combined two loops I do - one being a 5.25 mile course that is very flat, followed by a 3.4 mile loop that is about as hilly as one can get in this area. Going from the end point of the first loop back to the start point of the 3.4 mile loop made up the remaining .35 miles.
Total distance: 9 miles
Total time: 1:36:39
avg HR: 149
I did notice after about 2 miles that I was able to keep my HR down below 150 much easier than previous long runs, while still being able to keep the 10:30 pace or so. It may have been due to today's conditions being a bit cooler - I started around 6:20 pm or so, and ended around 8 pm. That gave me good daylight (but not direct sunlight, which is hotter) for the first 5 miles or so, but the last few miles it definately got dark, and therefore it was much cooler.
I also started feeling my hip tighten up after about 6 miles or so. It was not bad at all, but it reminded me that I should stretch a little more frequently - so far I've done no stretching at all.
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