9 weeks down, 9 weeks to go.

Two runs last week, 6.8 mi @9:11 pace midweek, and the long weekend one, 15.6 mi @9:41 pace. Plus the usual complement of elliptical and Lifecycle.

The 6.8 mi run went fine, except for one nit, the iPod headphones failing halfway through. They’ve since been replaced.

The 15.6 mi run is the longest I’ve ever done. I switched the 15 mi and 10 mi long runs in the program in order to start stepping back every other week. My legs are going to need it. It takes them more time to fully recover from these longer runs; they feel more beat up afterwards. Ice packs have become my legs’ good friends whether I’m sore or not. 

I did notice subconsciously tensing upper leg muscles beyond about 9-10 mi, almost as if trying to protect my knees at those distances, and had to make a conscious effort to relax them. Well, that may also explain why I typically slow by about 15 sec/mi beyond 15K, so perhaps have learned something useful.

So 2 days after the long run, my left upper leg is still a bit sore, although ice and taping are helping to whip it back into shape. Ironically the left leg is the stronger one. And perhaps I should slow back down to about 10 min/mi for the long runs; 9:41 pace may be a bit too fast.

But after 15.6 mi, it’s starting to now feel like striking distance of a marathon, instead of looking at it from a far distance.