Broke 30km!

Today's run was tough, and I knew it would be in advance. It was another Rehovot run, and I scheduled to do 31-32km.
I had a rough week with my knees - a lot of soreness, so I decided that I would run it slower than normal. Even the 8km from President's Forest to Tzomet Nachshon (not including the hill up to Harel) where you can effortlessly fly without realizing, I would take it slow. I did not want to strain or pull anything, and I needed the reserves for the late kilometers...

So I started my run from the Paz gas station at the entrance to Bet Shemesh. I ran to Tzomet Shimshon. The whole way there my fuel belt kept slipping, and I decided I would not wear it next time. I have no hips or tush anymore to hold it up. At Tzomet Shimshon I adjusted everything a bit and it got better. I had it over my shirt and it was slipping, but when I put it under my shirt it seemed to stay in place.

I was in a good rhythm, and ran the whole way without stopping. I overran Weizzman Institute, because I hit it at only a bit over 30km, and I wanted to hit at least 31, if not 32. I overran it and ran back, and in the end hit 31.1.

It was agood run, and I broke through the 30km barrier. I felt wiped out in the Tzomet Bilu area, but the Herzl Street 4km stretch in Rehovot to Weizzman was better than in previous runs. I ran most of it this time in the street, and maybe that was the difference...

I was sore after the run, but not too bad. It felt good hitting 31km.

Numbers for this run were 31.1km at an average pace of 5:54/km.

No longer a novice!

Tonight was a recovery run from Friday's Long Run. Blah blah blah. Nothing exciting there. Recovery runs are boring already.

So I have two milestones to announce - (drumroll please)...

1. This week we are finishing the Lactate Threshold and Endurance phase of our training. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like a milestone. Lactate sounds like Lactose, which I know has to do with milk, but I doubt there is any such connection, as I have not been drinking any unusual quantities of milk recently... But whatever it means, it sounds like a milestone, as we are getting cloaser and closer to being ready fro the marathon
2. This one is a bit more exciting... This past week Chaim, a.k.a. Coach, sent out an email with details of the weeks running schedule. In it, he made a very significant change... instead of the usual variety - a schedule for advanced runners, a schedule for novice runners, and a schedule for half-marathoners, he sent a schedule for marathoners and for half-marathoners, and said there are no more novice runners and advanced runners. We are now all marathoners. I emailed him and mentioned that I am not yet even close to being able to follow the advanced runners schedule, and he responded that I am no longer a novice runner (I fall somewhere in between novice and advanced right now), so I should follow the advanced schedule but cut it down some (and we decide each time how to cut it down appropriately..).

So, by doing nothing more than just running (i.e. I did not take any tests or anything like that), I have graduated from novice status!

milestones

This morning's run was an 18km run fro the bottom of the Nofei Aviv neighborhood of BS out to Dir Rafat, the monastery behind Kibbutz Tzora.

Most of the way was pretty flat, with a serious incline for about 1.5km or so up to Dir Rafat.

The past three or so runs I have been trying to improve my pace, running the first few km, increasing it slightly each time, of each run at a faster pace, and then slowing down to my normal pace. For some reason, today I had a very strong run and ran at a faster pace the whole way, including the steep uphill. I still finished last (not including the group who did nto run the whole route), but I improved my pace.

I was going to run just the first 5 or so km at an accelerated pace, but I was feeling good and felt like I could keep going. Eventually I slowed down, but at a certain point I glanced down at my watch and saw that despite my having slowed down I was still running at a pace that was much better than what my average pace has been. I pretty much kept up that pace the rest of the way, slowing down a bit more on the uphill.

We made it up to Dir Rafat, stopped for a quick drink from the water faucet, turned around and ran back.

On the way back I noticed, by chance, that I was hitting a milestone. For the first time ever, I hit the 10km mark in less than an hour (and that even included the whole uphill!)!!! It was actually 57 minutes and change. That was very exciting. Eventually I glanced down at my watch and saw that I was on the 59 minute marker and only a few hundred meters from the 11km marker. I sped up to see if I could hit 11 in an hour, but I missed it by a bit.

The way back was also a good run. Near the end I had to slow down a bit because it was hard to figure out which trail was the right trail back at certain points where the trails split up.

My final numbers for todays run were: 18.01km at an average pace of 5:51/km over a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. The first 5km and change I ran at an average pace of 5:26/km. I ran the 1.52km uphill to Dir Rafat at an average pace of 6:31/km.