16 Mile Long Run from Ilderton to Goodlife...

While the rest of the Runners Choice group was running the Really Chilly 5K and 10K, Coach Brian and I decided to join the "fast guys" to run from Steve and Lisa Hill's place in Ilderton down to Goodlife -- but taking the "scenic route. Actually, Doug Roswell, Mike and Steve took off from the house, and then Lisa dropped Brian, Ryan Nutbrown and me at Denfield Road and Nine Mile Road. Here is the route:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5822566

Steve had gone out ahead of time and dropped off Gatorade, water and snacks along the route, which was great. I was running with Ryan Nutbrown and Coach Brian who are both much faster runners than I am, so they generally kept with me for the first 2/3's of the run until we got into Springbank Park and I told them to go on ahead. But even still, Steve, Doug, Ryan and Brian came back to get me as I was crossing the walkbridge to head up King Street, which was quite nice of them. I tried to step it up (a tiny bit) at the end.

My GPS wasn't getting a signal for some reason, so I could not track my pace. But I did track the times (to the nearest minute) when we stopped for hydration. Here are those times, distance (based on Gmap-Pedometer) and the calculated pace at the time:

45 minutes, 5.58 miles: 8:04 per mile
77 minutes, 9.62 miles: 8:00 per mile (and that is after about a 2 mile uphill segment after the Kilworth bridge)
132 minutes, 16.0 miles: 8:15 per mile

So I slowed down considerably through the park, unfortunately. Looks like my pace during that segment was 8:37.

It definitely helped having Ryan and Brian in my sights, so I must have lost that focus when they took off through the park. But overall, I am reasonably happy with the run today. It wasn't a race, so I wasn't trying that hard. And, in fact, I was somewhat surprised when I saw my pace overall in writing ths blog post. I was still able to breath well and talk in short sentences right up until the end of the run, so I think my cardio is there for Around the Bay. Its just my leg strength and leg endurance while running with an efficient running style that needs work.

With 5 more weeks to go until the race, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm starting to get 'in the zone' to set a PB on this one. Just need to dig out 8 minute miles for 18.75 miles.