Footnotes: Veterans Marathon Training: Week 14

Some notes from the week ...

Double down. I brought back two-a-days. Woo hoo! After discovering it was very difficult for me to get in 8 miles before Mark had to get to school, I decided a double was just what I needed. I forgot how challenging and rewarding these runs can be both physically and mentally. I was happy, though, to see that I ran faster the second time without much more effort.

There's an app for that. I'm not sure if I ever really said it but my MOTOACTV died a quick death right before Hood to Coast. I'm thankful I had my Garmin 305 to fall back on but I've had a nagging suspicion that it's a bit slow and needs an update. But anyway, neither here nor there. I saw the Mother Runner + Saucony Run4Good contest and thought I'd try the app. It was fine, good, I don't know. I'm just curious how accurate such apps are and, more importantly, how much data they use.

Long run. I had the distinct pleasure of running my long run in Cincinnati this weekend. And by pleasure, I mean I ran more hills than I have since Hood to Coast. Mark and Miles ran the first 4 with me before I headed off with a loose plan to do an out-and-back. The plan was thrown off course when the sidewalk ran out, and I turned left. I knew the road, by name at least, but was running blind in a sense. I had no idea where I would need to (or even could) turn to get the miles in. I just winged it and may or may not have checked my phone to make sure I wasn't going the wrong way.

The run itself, despite feeling hard, was great. I found myself running through some beautiful neighborhoods and along a scenic creek. I definitely didn't feel like I was in the middle of the city! Even better, despite running two of the hilliest roads I could (according to Grandma), I was two seconds over my old goal pace and negative split the run.