7+ mile ITB

Well, I now know my left ITB has at least 7 miles in it! This was the longest run of the season so far for me. Its been a long and slow come back from that injury, but I'll say its worth it. I can say that I really think the ITB is healed. Of course, I'm not all ready to run 26.2 again just yet. That will take more time. But, all in all, I'm pretty happy to put 7 miles behind me yesterday. The start of the run wasn't all that great. I wasn't feeling it.

I really don't like when it takes so long to settle in. There you are, knowing you're going for 7 miles, but the first 2-3 miles feel like ass. Its almost to the point where you asking, "How the hell am I going to run 7 today??? Maybe I should cut it early... maybe its an off day..." My split times show the story though. After a couple of miles, I started to settle in, and the pace got better and better. For an overall HR of 143 is pretty good for that distance.

My overall pace was at 9:36, but really, the cadence is where I'm lacking. Overall I was at 81 spm. I certainly got better, but that first couple of miles before I settled in, cadence was pretty low. I definitely can see the value in getting some distance under your belt before a race, to get warmed up. Next up, rest day, then I think 3 and 5 mile runs.

Interesting thing about that 5 mile run coming, is that its the official halfway point in schedule I of the marathon training schedule that I'm using. That means, I'm 1/4 of the way through the whole schedule for a marathon. Only taken about 3 months. That would mean, 9 more months to get all the way through... Well, I don't have 9 months before the next marathon, however, my progress was certainly a lot slower than it regularly would have been to get started, mostly just to get the ITB back up to speed. I think I'll be staying a lot more on pace getting through the rest of the schedule.