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McKenzie River Trail long run + hard finish

March 23, 2014 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s, OK

Comments:
Slept long and well last night, but still woke up tired. A day (or really, two, if you count Tuesday and Saturday) like this will take more than a day to recover.

Before the run, I wanted to do some writing and podcast downloading, so I went to The Beanery - which has THE best coffee in town - for a brew and wireless access. Wound up staying there 'til 11, then I finally left for McK.

I don't like the hour-long drive, but it's worth it: for the amazing singletrack along a picturesque river, and the sheer length - 26 miles one way - as well as the relatively low climbing. Perfect conditions to run easy when you want, and hard when you want.

Thought about doing a 4hr-total run but...I was WIPED OUT. Did my best to keep it under 130, but pretty much failed at that. I "cut it short" to my standard "100 minutes out", but that took about 105 minutes. I tacked on a bit longer to get to just under 11 miles, then turned back.

Listened to a couple podcasts: a random Tim Noakes 'cast (where he talked about mostly nutrition), and Candice Burt/TRN, which was pretty entertaining. She's an interesting gal... ;-)

On the inbound, I felt just really crappy. It's interesting: it's SO much harder to run easy when you're tired then to run hard - that "get 'er done gear". SO much harder. I remember this on my long runs with LB & the Queen (notably at the '12 WS Camp), but damn, does it pay off! So important!

The idea was to go hard the last 5ish miles, but shit...I felt like bailing. But I knew I needed it, AND I knew it would be "easier".

Just as I hit Trailbridge, I saw another runner: Rob Hendrickson! Stopped and chatted with him (I paced him at Waldo '11) a couple minutes, then loaded some tunes and took off.

Felt...surprisingly GOOD on this hard push! This was the first time I had any velocity data, and it was interesting to see how fast I could get it. I got some instantaneous values in the low-5s, but otherwise seemingly "averaged" sub-6. I stopped once for about 15 seconds (no watch stop) to drink from a stream, which cut my avg pace.

Decided to stop about 3-4thmi from the "finish" - at a dirtroad crossing. I was shocked at how hard I was able to push it, and how GOOD it felt! Very cool.

Jogged slow the last 3-4th mi, then walked to the car. I always walk a couple laps around the Ranger Station while I refuel.

Good run...especially considering how F-ing tired I am right now.

Wore the NEW Trail N1's - my last pair (and maybe TRULY my last) that I'll wear for Sonoma.

Some Suunto stats:

Outbound: 10.9mi, 1:49, AHR 133
Inbound to bridge: 5.4mi, 55:24, AHR 135
Bridge to road tempo: 4.mi, 34:27, AHR 177 (7:12 pace, but likely much faster due to the stop - fastest was 5:04)