February 27th: A Change of Schedule, A Change of Pace, A Change in Outlook

Ahhh...that felt good. I drove down to WOW today, rather than hit the belt at PF, and did some solid strength training.

I almost didn't make it. Carol was running about 3 minutes late this morning, and we got to the bus stop at 6:25. And of course, this was the one day the bus driver was actually on time. By 6:30 or so, we realized the bus had already come, and I started heading to the high school so Carol could get on the transfer bus. But we actually caught up to her first bus en route, and she was able to get on when it stopped to pick up another kid. That probably saved me 5 minutes -- and likely saved my workout. Thanks, Carol!

I need to add a challenge to this stuff.

I moved about 3/4 of the stack on the adductor.

I won't bore you with all the details of my sets, but I worked on core, arms, legs (particularly glutes) and hips. I also learned that a few moves I used to think were really tough are getting to be a bit easy, and I'm going to have to figure out how to push harder. In particular, bosu-ball crunches with a dumbbell and kettlebell jugglers just weren't that challenging. I'm also getting into the hip abductor and adductor machines, and I'm pushing pretty good weight there. I keep reading tons of stuff about how injury prevention starts with having strong hips and glutes.

But the real story of today's workout is how refreshed and invigorated I felt afterward. I think a big part of the training blues I've been having of late has been the monotony -- get up at 5:30, have coffee, make Carol some breakfast, warm the car up, put on gym clothes, get Carol on the bus, go to PF and hop on a treadmill. Day after day after day. Just breaking out of that routine really cleared the mind a lot. Even mid-workout, I couldn't believe how much I was enjoying myself.

I'm thinking this might be something to consider more frequently. I'll have to figure out how that impacts my fairly rigid training schedule -- I have it set up the way I do to maximize the value of rest days. And this week is sort of an outlier, since I won't be doing anything again until Sunday, when I run the half. Nonetheless, it feels like the right thing to do, more for my mental endurance than for my physical training.

As I mentioned above, two nice, full days off before the half on Sunday. Yay!

February 26th: Living Proof That Anyone Can Do This

So much for going 8 miles today. I had to be sure to get into the office, so that cut things short. Basically, the deal is, I have to walk out of PF by 7:50 to get home, showered and ready to hit the 8:44 train, to be in the office a bit after 10:00. If I miss that train, it's close to 11:00 before I get to work, and that means it's better to work from home -- which wasn't an option. At least the threatened delays of 45 minutes -- due to a freight train derailment -- never materialized.

I decided, instead, that I'd do an hour of pace (or slightly faster) running on the belt. I negative splitted, as I've started doing on most of my runs. I won't bore you with the mile-by-mile, but I hit 6.7 miles in the hour -- that's an 8:57 pace. If I can do that for most of Sunday's half-marathon, I'll clear 2 hours easily.

The other thing that struck me today was that it wasn't that hard. I mean, it was work -- don't get me wrong. But when I was done, cooled off, and stretched, I felt pretty much fine. Compare that to June, when I did my first 5K. I probably went at about that pace and was ready to fall over. I guess the lesson here is to trust in your training. The other lesson -- which I can't emphasize enough -- is that I am living proof that anyone can do this.

Total miles since starting the blog: 373.9

February 25th: I Should Pick Things Up and Put Them Down

Today was interval day. I went a little shorter than last time -- just 4 miles. But I went really hard -- intervals were at 8.0 and 8.1, and a lot of them were 2:00 on, 1:30 slowdown. Did it in 34:15, an 8:33 overall pace. That's 18 seconds faster per mile than last week's intervals.

I came across an interesting article about strength training yesterday. Some of it is expected -- do a lot of core work and strengthen your hips. But it also reinforces something I’ve come to believe and would like to incorporate more, particularly after the race in April: Runners should do hardcore weight training, just like everyone else. High weight and low reps.

My biggest problem right now is finding the time. As it is, I have to shoehorn in the running I’m able to do, and I’m still working on teaching my body how to hold up over long distances. But I’m thinking that, since I have the half on Sunday and no strength/cross day built into my schedule, I’ll eschew my Thursday run in favor of some strength work at WOW.

One thing I won't be doing before Sunday: running outside. My time to run is right around when we hit the overnight lows.

Tomorrow is my kinda long, and we’ll see about Thursday. That will be it until Sunday. Still haven’t decided whether to chase sub-2:00 for the half.

Total miles since starting the blog: 367.2

February 22nd: Plan B for 16 Miles

I really wanted to do my run outdoors today. I'm so sick of the dreadmill.

So, despite a warning from a Monmouth County Park representative, I drove down to Thompson Park in Lincroft. I figured I'd check it out, and if the trail looked passable, I'd do it, and if not, I could always retreat to Planet Fatness.

What are they going to do in a week during the race?

Well, it wasn't passable. But I saw a lot of other runners out there, and they were finding places to go, so I thought why not give it a go anyway?

I'm noticing that a prevailing theme for my outdoor runs is that the increasing mileage is turning them into adventures, and that was certainly the case today. I followed the roads around the park for a bit, which got me a couple of miles. Then I headed out onto Newman Springs Road, which has a nice shoulder. As long as you run against the flow of traffic, it's perfectly safe.

...Pray for Us

The scene of a few crimes

After a little out-and-back, I turned left into CBA. It's the first time I've been on the grounds basically since Andrew Jr. graduated and then I had my 20-year reunion in the span of a couple of weeks in 2011. Ran out to the old Brothers' home and back. Oddly, for me, it doesn't really spur that sense of nostalgia that I think a lot of my classmates feel. I don't have anything against my time there, and I'm proud to be the middle link in the first (and to my knowledge, still only) three-generation family of CBA men. But I don't feel the need to go see my old locker or the gym or whatever.

See you in a week!

From there, I headed back east on Newman Springs and looped through the Brookdale Community College campus. That's where I'll be next week, weather permitting, at the start and finish of the half-marathon. There are a lot of good roads for running through there, and I even encountered a small set of stairs -- which, I have to tell you, actually feels good when you're seven miles into a run. You stretch other muscles and take some of the pressure off of the ones you've been using to run.

After that, it was back to the car for a quick pit stop (including a port-a-john stop). Then a repeated a lot of my route, looping around parking lots to add some easy distance into the trip. The second time through CBA, the cross-country team was being put through the paces by Coach Heath. CBA's cross-country program is -- and I'm not exaggerating even a little here -- the best high school program in the history of the sport. They haven't lost a dual meet in something like 40 years, and at the most recent Shore Conference championships, they took five of the Top 7 spots. The winner set a course record. But what struck me this morning was that the young men were cordial to me, asking how I was doing as we ran past each other. It's nice to see good manners like that.

As I left CBA for the second time, I hit 12 miles, and I started to hit the wall a little bit. By 13.1, I was pretty much just hanging on. My splits got seriously slower for that last 5k -- probably about 30 seconds a mile. But like last week, I willed myself through it. I really believe that's where you make your big gains. I needed one more loop in Thompson to get to 16 miles, and I hit it maybe 20 yards short of my car. Woooooo!!! 2:30:53. Not a bad pace, if the GPS is to be believed.

My recovery this week has also been a lot better than last week. No feeling like I'm going to crash, and I'm not dead on my feet now. Plus, by knocking it out on Saturday, I get two recovery days (cross tomorrow and rest Monday), so the rest of the week should be better, too. And I get two rest days at the end of the week, before the half-marathon on Sunday. I am looking forward to that, for sure!

One of the reasons I think it went as well as it did is that I got a little more serious about my pre-run nutrition. Last night, I did a serious carb load with pasta -- at least half a box of penne. And this morning, I used both some Chia Fresca and Gatorade G1. Plus I left about half of the Chia Fresca for my mid-run car stop, so I got an extra boost there.

I know I mentioned this, but I am pretty psyched about doing my first 30+ week. 34.6 miles!

Total miles since starting the blog: 363.2

February 20th: More Miles

Real quick entry today.

I got my 8 miles in on the belt -- actually 8.1. Felt good for most of it -- probably started getting a little tired close to the hour mark. But I knew it wasn't anything I couldn't handle, and I picked up the pace in the last few miles. I've read that if you want to push pace in a training run, it's best to do it at the end, and log the bulk of your miles at a reasonable pace.

The one thing I wasn't really expecting was that it got kind of warm at PF. We haven't had a lot of nice days lately, and this morning, as the sun came up, it was on my back. I don't know if there was an alternative, but someone should have considered that the window facade of the gym faces southeast -- pretty much right in the direction of the sun as it's rising -- before putting a row of treadmills just inside the window.

Well, I've logged 18.6 miles this week leading up to my long this weekend. I'm grateful for tomorrow's rest day, and I'm hoping against hope that I can do my 16 outdoors on Saturday. If I get that done -- or at least 11.4 -- it will be my first 30-mile week. I have to say, I'm also looking forward to next week -- with the half marathon on 3/2, I get three straight rest days beforehand.

Total miles since starting the blog: 347.2

February 19th: A Lesson in Mental Toughness

Sometimes you do the right thing for the wrong reason. This morning’s run was one of those times for me. 

Here's the Chia Fresca I forgot

Last night, I prepared a pint of Chia Fresca to drink before my workout. It’s actually a great drink before a run, because the natural sugar in the lime juice and agave have low glycemic indices, so you get a steady stream of energy, instead of a spike. And the small amount of protein in the chia seeds is just right to have moving through you as your muscle fibers break down. (Shoot me a note if you want the recipe.) Since I pushed hard yesterday on the interval run, I figured it would be good to have a little boost this morning.

That is, until I totally forgot about it.

So I wound up doing a glycogen-depleted run, which isn’t a bad thing. Teaching your body how to push on when your sugar stores are gone is a key to marathon runners. Regardless of what gels I take during the race, I’m going to hit a point where I just want to stop. So I want to get used to that feeling now, so I can plan for how to overcome it.

I came across an interesting article yesterday about the role of mental toughness in running. It’s a lot to digest, but the gist of it is this: You frequently hit your mental breaking point long before your body actually hits the wall. It’s a natural defense mechanism -- your brain is trying to keep your body out of danger. But the success of endurance athletes hinges on the ability to override that impulse.

This is not to say that you want to push yourself to the edge of collapse every time you work out. A major part of mental toughness is the ability to listen to your body to know when something is truly about to go wrong. But part of that is experience. Today, after I hit about 3 miles, I felt the impulse to shut it down. But I knew that, Chia Fresca or not, my body is capable of well more than 3 miles. So I pushed through 4. I kept checking my time and distance, and it just didn’t seem to be going fast enough. Bumped up the speed to 6.5 (9:13 miles). And I really thought I just wasn’t going to make it. I got to 4.8 and was thinking, "OK, just two more minutes. Just get to 5." 

And then a funny thing happened: I hit 5 miles and almost instantly felt better. I knew I could hit 6 no problem. It was like once I got to that threshold, the anchors were removed from my ankles. I even started cranking up the speed. The last half-mile or so was in the 9:00/mile range, with a 8 mph (7:30 pace) burst the last couple of tenths. When it was all done, 6 miles in 55:40 -- a 9:16 pace.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I've been running up against a mental wall lately. But this is exactly the kind of victory that I needed to keep on truckin'. I'll need to keep thinking about strategies for overcoming my brain's obstacles, but I'm feeling a lot better now than I was after Sunday's long.

Tomorrow I'd like to get some miles in, but I really don't want to push the pace, since I've done two tough workouts in a row. Also, I realized that if I want to move my long back to Saturdays, I'm going to have to scrap the extra run this week and maybe squeeze it in on Monday. Friday is rest, and then Saturday is 16 or so. 

I'm likely going to register for the E. Murray Todd Half Marathon on 3/2. It starts at Brookdale Community College, goes through Thompson Park (a great paved loop course), and then wends through Holmdel and Lincroft. That fits exactly into the Higdon Novice 2 schedule.

Total miles since starting the blog: 345.1

February 18th: Sometimes, the Belt Is the Way to Go

More snow this morning. Ugh. I could probably just pull out an old blog entry and re-post it. Unlike Thursday, however, it wasn’t enough to bring traffic to a halt, so there was no prospect of an in-the-dark snow run. That sent me to PF.

The upside to the treadmill today is that I’ve been wanting to get in some interval work. You may recall that last week, instead of an interval day, I went on the blizzard run with Lily. And though that was a great run, I’m going to have to get more speed work done if I’m serious about 4:00.

My fast segments were a little faster than I’ve done previously. I did the usual 1:30 slow/fast intervals, with the fast ones starting at 7.8 mph and quickly moving up to 8.0. Slowdowns varied between 5.6 and 5.9. And my stamina was really good, too. A couple of the intervals, I went a full 2 minutes; overall, I ran 4.5 miles in just under 40:00. That’s an 8:51 overall pace. Next time, I’ll shoot to boost the speed a little bit -- or maybe even push the mileage.

Looks like I’ll need to work from home on Thursday, so I may juggle that and tomorrow. Do an easy, recovery-ish workout tomorrow and then a kinda-long on Thursday. Then this week’s long will definitely be on Saturday.

Total miles since starting the blog: 339.1

February 16th: Mid-Training Blues

Is it common to feel sort of mentally fatigued at some point in marathon training?

I'm sort of hitting the mental wall right now. I think part of it is that there's just been so much treadmill work. You can see how much more excited my posts are when I actually get to run outdoors. But I think another part of it is just how much of an impact the training has on your other life commitments and the people around you. It's not just those couple of hours on Saturday or Sunday morning -- it's the early to bed, no social life on Friday or Saturday night. It's the afternoon of "Ow" after your long. It's the realization that it's already feeling hard and you still have double-digit miles to go till you hit 26.2. And I think it's also the realization that this is the way it's going to be for another two months.

It also didn't help my mental state that yesterday's cross-training workout was the pits. Jackie and I hit WOW while Carol was at her riding lesson. (First World Problems, right?) You know, we'd done a little celebrating for Valentine's Day, and that led us both to have poor nights sleep. Morning ibuprofen shook out the cobwebs, but I think it can only solve so much. My core stuff went pretty well, but lifting did not. Weights I know I can put up I had tons of trouble with. And eventually, I just realized I wasn't feeling it and gave up. For her part, Jackie was doing well on the belt until nature called -- urgently -- about 20 minutes in. Total workout killer.

That left me in a crabby mood for the balance of Saturday, at least till we had dinner out with our kids -- something we don't get to do very often anymore, now that Andrew Jr. is on his own. Nonetheless, I was a bit concerned about how I'd do on a long run on Sunday, especially on the belt.

For some reason, those fears were nearly confirmed early on. Inside the first mile, I started feeling a little bonk-ish. But I pushed through that a bit, because I figured unless something were truly wrong, that was probably just glycogen deficiency. (I actually tried a Gatorade G1 packet right before I went into PF, but I guess it hadn't kicked in yet.) And I was right. I slammed through the first hour no problem. At about 8, I started feeling a little tired, but nothing I'm not used to. It started being a real slog when I hit double digits. But still nothing I can't handle. By about the half-marathon mark, though, I was pretty bushed and thinking about calling it quits. That's where you have to keep on pushing. That's where the work actually gets done. Especially for marathon training, where your true fat-burning and cardio work gets done in the 90- to 180-minute window. That's where you teach your body to pull in fat stores, since your glycogen is all gone. And when your body learns how to do that, you get stronger.

Sorry I don't have a good pic.

That all said, the last half-mile or so, I was hanging on for dear life. I just kept telling myself, "OK, hang on for four minutes." Then three. Then two. And I made it. 15 motherflippin' miles.

I'm hoping that this week's warm-up will melt off enough snowpack that I'll be able to run outdoors soon. At this point, the issue isn't the weather itself -- it's that there's nowhere safe to run. I'm also thinking of tossing in an extra short run this week -- nothing major, but I would really like to put a dent in the deficit from my lost week. I'll definitely monitor how I feel closely, and I'm certainly not doing anything tomorrow.

Post script: We went food shopping a little while after I got home from PF and tapped out this blog entry. About halfway through, I totally felt like I was going to bonk. Moral of the story: Unless the plan is to collapse on the couch after a long run, I have to be sure to put back both protein and carbs.

Total miles since starting the blog: 334.6

February 13th: You Gotta Be a Little Crazy to Run a Marathon...

With this snowstorm, Governor Christie said not to drive unless it's absolutely necessary. He did not say anything about leashing up your dog and going for a crazy blizzard run, however.

I actually overslept a little bit this morning. And then I was looking at having to clean the car off and drive 15 miles per hour to get to PF, just for the privilege of jumping on the treadmill. I was getting my gym clothes on when I decided, "You know what? You have to be a little crazy to run a marathon. How about an outdoor run in the blizzard, instead?" So I put on my cold-weather gear instead.

That's when the dog heard me and jumped out of Carol's bed. At first I was thinking that it would already be enough of a challenge. But then I figured, "Why not?" She hasn't been running for a few weeks, and she's definitely had cabin fever. So she got to come along, too.

Here are some things we learned about blizzard runs:

• GPS/MapMyRun doesn't work very well in the snow. It called out the first mile at about .4 miles. 4:09 mile! Look out Boston, here I come! I looked at the map afterward, and it's all kinds of zig-zagged. The GPS was clearly bouncing off the snowflakes.
• Running in the snow really isn't that bad -- when the wind is at your back.
• A snowflake right in the eye hurts like hell.
• Just let the snowplow truck go by. He gets to do his job, and you get a reasonably clean track to run on.
• Going downhill with a dog who's trying to sprint is a recipe for disaster. Not sure how I managed to stay on my feet there.
• Even other dogs think you're crazy. A big German Shepherd came bounding out of nowhere, and I was sure it was going to be a brawl. Lily gave the dog one look, like, "Excuse me, I'm busy running," and the thing went back home.
• Don't drive through big puddles, like the guy we saw at the flood road near the beach. Fortunately, he got all the way through back to dry land before his car conked out.
• Running in the snow really works your legs hard.

I had to re-map my run when I got home, since MMR thought I went 5 miles in 33:00. Turns out, I went 3.58 in 33:46. That's a respectable 9:25 pace. 

I'd hoped to do intervals today, but the workout I got in the snow makes up for it. So I'm on track for the week. I'll look to do a long on Saturday (likely on the belt, ugh), and then cross on Sunday. Tomorrow is a rest day.

Total miles since starting the blog: 319.6

February 12th: No Longer New

Continuing on the comeback trail, I was back at Planet Fatness this morning for a midweek "kinda long."

There's more snow in the forecast for tomorrow, which undoubtedly means another work-at-home day. This is screwing things up in two ways: I had to cut short today's run after 6 miles to ensure I'd be able to get to the office, and tomorrow is up in the air. I have to say, joining PF was a good move with so few outdoor running days available. But I am done with this winter. I'm over it. Bring on some spring.

What the heck is that schmutz?

Remember how excited I was about my new shoes a few weeks ago?  Life of a runner: They're not new anymore. Even with the week off, they have 63 miles on them already. That would put me in the market in about 10 or 11 weeks -- right at the time of the marathon. That's a no-go. So I'm thinking I'll break in a new pair during my taper, starting 3 weeks out.

Today's run was a pace 6. I added that extra tenth because the .9 was driving me nuts. 6.11 in 55:30 -- a 9:05 pace, totally negative splitted. Last mile was in the 8:35 range.

If I get to PF tomorrow, I'm looking to do interval work. If not, perhaps I can get a quick home workout in.

Total miles since starting the blog: 316.0.

February 11th: Finally Back in Action, and Some Thoughts About Inspiration

I guess there’s simply nothing I can do about it: I lost a whole week of training to that stupid upper-respiratory illness. And I’m still not 100 percent better -- the cough is lingering, and my runny nose hasn’t stopped entirely. But if I wait until everything is perfect, it’ll be weeks, and I can kiss the marathon goodbye.

Nonetheless, I thought it prudent to ease back into my routine, get my body -- particularly my lungs -- reacquainted with the idea of working. So I settled on a normal distance for a Tuesday -- 4 miles -- at a nice easy treadmill pace of 9:40s. It was good to get back moving again, and I never felt like I was getting anywhere near overdoing it -- though I’d bet that my VO2 max isn’t quite where it would be if I were totally healthy. I’ll add that when I was done, I did feel as though I’d loosened up some of the residual congestion, which I hope will help me clear it out more quickly.

I stuck to my pace the whole way through, speeding up just enough for a couple of minutes to make up the lag at the beginning as the belt gets up to speed. 4 miles, 38:38 -- just about exactly 9:40s.

At the beginning of the year, I posted a long entry with some advice for newbies at the gym, based on my

Remember my empty-gym pic?

experiences -- both successes and failures. And I’ve said a bunch of times that one of my main reasons for keeping this blog going is that I hope I can help someone or inspire someone, in the way that many other people have helped and inspired me. But sometimes I wonder if I’m really doing that.

I initiated a conversation with Jackie the other night in which I noted that, despite my best intentions, the advice that I’ve been trying to give her on her fitness journey has come off as judgmental. And of course, that really bothers me, because I feel that I have a lot to offer people. I’m not an expert runner or trainer or weightlifter or anything. But I have had success, and I have a good sense of the things that have worked for me and the things that haven’t. I’ve also learned a lot, through research and simply listening (and seeking) the advice of my friends.

So the last thing I want is to turn people off to improving themselves. I’ve said it plenty of times: If I can do it, anybody can. But if I can’t engender the trust of the person closest to me, it really makes me wonder about my approach. Am I too in-your-face? Do I talk about it too much? Do you get the sense I’m trying to make myself look good and not really trying to help?

I’ve tried to keep the focus of this blog on my thoughts, my experiences, my feelings. Fitness is a personal journey, and the idea is to document my journey in the hope that it will help other people relate to theirs. Jackie and I agreed that if she’s looking for my help, she’ll ask me; otherwise, she’ll do her own thing. But I do plan to continue writing. So I hope that you get something out of my experiences, and I ask most humbly that you understand that any advice I offer comes from the best of intentions.

Tomorrow is my kinda long -- I’m hoping to get 7 miles in, but we’ll just have to see how my lungs feel. (Maybe I'll add an extra tenth -- that .9 in my total is bothering me.) Thursday could be snowed out, which I think would force me to scramble the rest of the week. And I don’t think there will be anywhere outdoors to run, even if the temperatures cooperate over the weekend, so it looks like my long will be on the belt.

Miles since starting the blog: 309.9

February 5th: Laid Up

I'll keep this short and sweet. After my long run Sunday, I started feeling some respiratory problems -- congestion, coughing, etc. That morphed into sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, and just about everything else. This is the mother of all upper-respiratory infections.

Looks like I'm going to lose a full week of training. If I feel better Sunday, I may be able to get back out for a run -- but I really shouldn't do a long until next week. I have to figure out how to adapt the training schedule so that I can be back on course in a week or so.

As I wrote on Facebook, this illness is the Seahawks, and I'm the Broncos.

February 2nd: My Big Super Bowl Sunday Adventure

It's been a busy weekend, and I'm just getting a chance now to catch up. Saturday was a good strength workout, so I did my long on Sunday -- and it was quite the adventure.

Didn't get to the gym until Saturday afternoon because I was teaching at Rutgers in the morning. I really focused on core stuff, with a little arms thrown in. Oh, and a couple of reps on the leg-press machine just to show off for Jackie -- 400 pound, the entire machine. Running will do that for your legs. I also ran into my friend Jason, one of the people who's been encouraging me along the way.

My running partner is on the disabled list for a little while, so I needed to change up my routine a bit. Because of the great weather -- it was close to 40 degrees by 8:30 -- I wanted to do an outdoor run. But Lily will go absolutely nuts if I walk out the door and go running without her. So Jackie and I agreed that I'd get in the car as if I were going to the gym. Since I had to drive a bit, I decided to go over to the Henry Hudson Trail -- a rail trail not too far from where I live.

Looking out over NJ 35 in Keyport

I don't carry fluids with me when I run, but I was going a distance where I was definitely going to need them. So I came up with what I thought was a pretty clever plan -- I parked about 3 miles from the head of the trail, then ran in that direction so I could double back and get some water at 6 miles.

What didn't my clever plan account for? They don't plow the snow off the Henry Hudson Trail. And though it has melted off in most spots, there's still plenty of patches of it. And it's packed down into ice in a lot of spots. Suprise! You kind of pick your way through, watching for patches of blacktop you can run on, and being really careful where there isn't any. It slows you down a little bit, but not ridiculously.

Bridge out in Union Beach. Fortunately, you can cross on the road to the right

Looking out toward the Raritan Bay in Union Beach

The head of the trail is in Keyport, and 3 miles east is Union Beach -- one of the hardest-hit towns during Sandy. There are still a lot of houses being repaired or rebuilt, more than a year later. But one thing people overlook about Union Beach -- and really the whole Bayshore -- is how beautiful it is. There are a lot of spots along the trail where, if you didn't know better, you'd think you were looking at Chesapeake tidewaters.

East of Union Beach are Keansburg and then North Middletown (a.k.a. East Keansburg). My game plan was to do 13 miles total. MapMyRun told me I was at exactly 6 when I got back to the car for the water. That meant to get to 13, I'd need to go 3.5 in each direction the other way. I decided that since the GPS is sometimes a bit short, and because MMR calls out mile splits (not half miles), I'd turn back at 10. And I actually went a bit past that, but just by a couple hundred yards.

I guess I started to feel a little tired at 8. At the turnaround, I was feeling it a bit more, but it wasn't too bad. Now, if you've done the math, you've figured out that to get back to the car, I'd be going 14, not 13. And when I got to about 11 -- meaning I had about a 5k left -- I was really getting beat. But that's when it's really important to soldier on. You don't want to get to the point where you're going to bonk -- that's bad by itself, and it's also when you are highest risk of injury. But I wasn't at that point, so it was all good. And go figure -- my last two miles were my fastest. I have no idea how that happened.

All in all, I went 14.15 miles in 2:12:25 -- a 9:21 pace. I'm honestly surprised at that. At no point did I try to push the pace, not even in those last few miles when my splits were in the 9:01 range.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that running outdoors is just so much better, easier and more interesting than the treadmill. I suppose that's kind of obvious, but last week, I was dying the second half of the run. Today, I felt really good even though it was my longest run ever. I'm pretty tired now, but that probably has to do with the rest of my day -- Costco, the pet store and Shop-Rite this afternoon. Running outdoors is just better, even when you're tracking through snow and ice. Let's hope for a bit of a thaw in February.

Total miles since starting the blog: 305.9.