14 Mile Canal Run

One week out from Moab and I've had a rough week. I've been battling what I think is a small head cold and things seem to be getting worse instead of better. In addition, I've been having problems with my left knee since running the hills last weekend in Moab. Setting out for a run this weekend I intended to do 14. Many thought I was overdoing it seeing that we did a half marathon last weekend. However, I felt that if I did not begin to break that 13 mile mark soon, I would not be prepared in January. I know I have plenty of time but from here on out it becomes a mental thing. Anyway, Jeff and Barry wanted to take their mileage down and intended to do 6-8. Jeff's leaving for Paris next week and Barry is going to be focusing his attention on hiking. Therefore, I was on my own. I decided to do 14 on the flat soft surface of the canal. Even though the morning temps have dropped, I wanted to get a head start. I headed down to Granada Park at around 6 am. I will admit, given the way I felt last night I came real close to not going out, but I thought I'd give it a shot. It was still dark for the first 3 miles and then the sun began to rise over Camelback mountain. I was trying a few new things on this long run. First I took my new lightweight Zoot shoes out. I've been breaking them in with 3-4 mile runs. They are really light and don't provide as much support as my Pearl Izumi's. I also decided to apply the body glide heavily and go with the shorter running shorts. Again, don't usually take these out for long runs....fear of extreme chaffing. "What the Hell", lets just go all in on this run, it will either really suck or it will all click. Anyway, I didn't want to get caught up on my speed so I refrained from looking at my pace for the first 5 or so miles. I just ran with what felt comfortable. Coming up on the 7 mile mark (68th St), I stopped to clear my head and GU and do some light stretching. Things felt good. Now that the sun was up, I was amazed at the amount of people on the canal....you can tell it's Chang's training time. I even saw a guy with a NYC marathon training shirt. Must be one of his last training runs before heading to NYC for the race next weekend. The back 7 were a little more difficult than the front 7. My legs started to really feel heavy around the 10 mile mark. I kept pushing through knowing that I come this far, I was gonna finish strong. Running all the way back to my starting point brought me to 14.40 miles. I ended up running a 8:46 pace. Not bad for someone who was close to sitting this one out. Shoes felt great, shorts felt great....I was proud of myself for not taking the easy way out and getting out there. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1251 ft Location: Phoenix, AZ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/25/08 Up/Downhill: [+131/-131] Time: 06:56 AM Difficulty: 2.7 / 5.0   Weather: A Few Clouds   67 F temp; 21% humidity   67 F heat index; winds SE 6 Performance Distance: 14.40 miles Time: 2:06:17 Speed: 6.8 mph Pace: 8' 46 /mi Heart Rate: 164 bpm (Avg) Calories: 2177 178 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 169 - 188 0h 57m 45%  7.48 mi Zone 4 150 - 169 1h 12m 57%  8.98 mi Zone 3 132 - 150 0h 10m 8%  1.08 mi Zone 2 113 - 132 0h 04m 3%  0.13 mi Zone 1 94 - 113 0h 00m 0%  0.00 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.04 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 16 +0' 30 6.5 -0.4 138 +10 ft 2 8' 43 -0' 03 6.9 +0.0 155 -6 ft 3 8' 29 -0' 17 7.1 +0.2 161 +10 ft 4 8' 58 +0' 12 6.7 -0.2 158 -3 ft 5 8' 30 -0' 16 7.0 +0.2 164 +3 ft 6 8' 35 -0' 11 7.0 +0.1 168 +19 ft 7 8' 33 -0' 13 7.0 +0.2 169 0 ft 8 13' 47 +5' 01 4.3 -2.5 161 0 ft 9 0' 06 -8' 40 569.9 +563.1 168 0 ft 10 8' 30 -0' 16 7.0 +0.2 169 -9 ft 11 8' 41 -0' 05 6.9 +0.1 168 -10 ft 12 8' 37 -0' 09 7.0 +0.1 169 0 ft 13 9' 12 +0' 26 6.5 -0.3 169 0 ft 14 9' 06 +0' 20 6.6 -0.3 171 0 ft 15 8' 43 -0' 03 6.9 +0.0 172 -10 ft end 8' 59 +0' 13 6.7 -0.2 175 -3 ft Versus average of 8' 46 min/mile

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