Three runs this week: 3.5 mi run @8:30 min/mi on the gym treadmill (about my 10K race pace), 5.34 mi run @9:35 min/mi, and 18.6 mi run @10:11 min/mi. Plus the usual complement of elliptical and Lifecycle on all but one of the nonrunning days, and light weights on the open day.

I've been scaling up the long runs so I'm now between Higdon's Novice I and Novice II. So far so good. The 10:11 pace felt good for the long run. The weather was relatively humid but cool, which helps when running in the foothills. At this distance, it's really a test of mental discipline as well as physical discipline. The 18.6 mi took me 3 hr and 10 min, first time I've ever run over 3 hr. Towards the end I started to feel like a windup toy - just keep going on and on and on... My legs were stiffening some towards the end, especially beyond 15 mi, but no pain, they sort of reached equilibrium around 15 mi and then it was steady state to the end. I stretched them after I got home - interesting that I did not want to collapse in a heap, I instinctively wanted to slowly walk and stretch. And EAT - these long runs are calorie incinerators - after I got home, I was ready to sell my soul for some black coffee and a muffin. Guess that's good. I also did not hit the wall, so looks like the wall's somewhere beyond 18.6 mi. And...icing knees and hamstrings after the run paid off next day.