This weekends run was 17 miles - an increase of 2 miles from the other weeks 15 miler. For that run I had done my normal 6 mile loop twice and then a 3 mile course - but this time I wanted to avoid doing a double loop. The mental grind of jogging for 2-3 hours is eased a bit on a new course.
The other thing I wanted to do on this run was continue working on cadence, with a goal of 90 footstrokes per foot per minute. Finally, I wanted to try out running continuously. For the 13 mile and 15 mile long runs over the past couple months, I had taken walk breaks - and for the 15 miler I had taken one every mile. I felt like the breaks helped improve stamina, as I started to tighten up around mile 11 - whereas previously (last fall) I'd start to tighten up around mile 8-9, or about an hour and twenty minutes. So for this run I wanted to experiment around with how things would go running continuously and with higher cadence.
The route I took was a simple out and back route, passing by a McDonalds about halfway through, which would give me an opportunity to refill my water bottles. The other option would have been to drive to the mid point and stash water somewhere, but I didn't feel like that would have been the best choice.
Total Time: 2:54:43
Total Distance: 16.88 miles
Avg HR: 154
There were two times I stopped running - one was a 2 minute break at 1:35:20 to refill the water bottles, and another was 1 minute walk at about 2:20.
Compared to the 15 mile run, I was about 1 min/mile faster, but at a cost of 6 bpm. The higher cadence still results in a 3-4 bpm increase in HR for me. However, I think that increase is worth it. There were multiple times, especially on the way back when I was more fatigued, that I'd find myself feeling the ascent of a small hill, and then realize that I let my cadence slip a bit, and I believe my stride length went up slightly. Those times, when I increased cadence back up to 90, my legs felt more perked up.
Also, I noticed that for a while after the 2 minute water refill break, I felt stronger for a while. It's hard to say whether it was the mental aspect of knowing I had passed the half way point, or whether it was the 2 minutes of 'rest', or possibly that my body had finally absorbed what may have been excess water during mile 7-8 (there were a couple times around there where my stomach felt every so slightly upset after taking a swig of gatorade). It could have also been that I was maintaining cadence so I was running more efficiently. Hard to say.
By the time I got to around mile 13 or so, my hips started to tighten up a bit. Once again, keeping a higher cadence helped with this somewhat. I think maybe it is because the higher cadence and shorter strides results in more blood flow but less metabolism byproducts, so the body is able to flush them away more effectively.
One of the takeaways from this run is that I may have to experiment with walk breaks - when to take them and for how long. It seems to me (based on the 15 mile run) that taking one every mile for 30 seconds is not necessarily the most effective method for me.
EDIT: On Monday, I was still a bit sore - I'd say around 5 on a scale of 10. Nothing debilitating, but definately there. It was the kind of soreness that would go away pretty quickly once I got moving.
By Tuesday, I'd say the soreness was down to a 2.5-3 out of 10.
I'd say that I was a little more sore a little longer this time, vs the 15 mile run. However, I noticed after the 15 mile run that my knee hurt a little bit when weight was put on it and the knee was at a certain angle - generally only noticed when bending down to pick something up, or once in a while when climbing a stair. After a couple days, that went away. However, I never felt any such knee pain after this run. I am unsure whether the higher cadence (and lower degree of impact per foot stroke) had more to do with it, or just the fact that the 15 miler came after about 5-6 weeks of no significant distance, whereas the 17 miler came 2 weeks after the 15 miles.
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