Going Long.

First long run since I started this.

First, to quibble on terms: one man's trash will invariably be another man's treasure. My long run this weekend was 13.5 miles through mixed terrain (branch-heavy forest paths, gravel, dirt and pavement). I know that's not much to some... and at one point was not much to me. Quite literally, YMMV. Still doing this trail on my old shoes. Not ready to give up the ghost just yet, at least not for 1.5-2 hour stretches.

I did, however, try to focus on a persistent midfoot-landing and a cadence of 180. That held up pretty well; probably for the first 10-11 miles, in fact. I must have bonked in some fashion, though, because I hit a long, slow incline in the last miles that was simply too much, and reverted to a heel strike for the remainder.

That felt like a real defeat. Perhaps more illuminating, it felt noticeably awkward and uncomfortable. Which is primarily what makes it worth mentioning. My calves/achilles tendons simply needed a break, so it was nice to offload to the quads, but still.

Also: started carrying water on these weekend runs, which I'm not convinced yet is entirely worthwhile in terms of cost/benefit. It still feels strange and heavy to have that bottle in the hand all the time, and I suspect is interfering with overall gait and pace. I can absolutely go through the 22 ounces over that distance, but...at the risk of sounding goofy, that bottle weighs on my mind.


One last thing. It poured rain for about 20 minutes in the middle, and I had really bad heartburn for the final 30 minutes. I had no idea how debilitating that last fact would be.

This one felt a real struggle. Hopefully that has more to do with my transition in form than my overall abilities.