Back to Running

The other day, I felt like pushing myself on a longish run. It's been over 6 months since my last marathon, and I've refrained from any runs longer than a handful of miles since then. But now I felt it was time to test the waters, carefully. Below is a chart of the pace versus mileage of a 12.5 mile run on a track. It's pretty pedestrian. I wanted to run a lot of laps around a track, to see how consistently I could keep the pace (no elevation change). I wanted to test my body. Is my ab pull healed enough? Is my low carb high fat diet going to effect my abilities? How are my bare feet going to do?



Although the pace slowed 10% over the first half the run, it stabilized in the second half, as seen by the trendline in the graph. The distance was shorter than I had planned. I wanted to run at least 60 laps (15 miles) but the temperature was getting into the 90s and I could feel heat exhaustion setting in. There was no discomfort in my abs, so the muscle pull has healed. I stopped due to heat exhaustion (I couldn't keep my body cool enough), but the heat was also effecting my feet. Whenever I stopped to get some water, my feet started to burn. The rubber track was really hot. It was tolerable when I kept moving. Blisters formed on the edges of my feet, I believe due to the hot surface. See the video.



So its time to incorporate regular long runs, and I'm thinking I need a GPS/HR monitor. I sold my GPS to Barefoot Josh, and I'm missing it. Prices have dropped alot on Garmins. I can hear them calling my name.