Took it in the shorts

I always thought the phrase, "taking it in the shorts" was gender specific to men. Well, I'd like it noted that I've changed my thinking on this after receiving a chafing from my running shorts today that will have me walking for quite some time as if I've been horseback riding for a week. Note to self: buy some more tri shorts for long runs. Always interesting to see what the injury (aka war wound/medal of honor) of the week will be (long history on this as my college roommate, Sandy, used to have "coming out" parties for our team bruises on the days after our soccer games and photograph her black and blue legs).

Today was lllloooonnnngggg run day for both Seujan and me: 19 miles. Since we're dog-and- housesitting in West Seattle, the opportunity for a change of scenery presented itself and we both made up new water view routes. Seujan took off earlier than me and did a really big out-and-back from the house and I went over near Alki to do a double out-and-back from the opposite direction so I could exchange empty/full fuel bottles part way through at my car (ok, yeah, and having a flat route wasn't a tough sell, either). Fortunately, our routes overlapped and we saw each other twice. I tried to run with Seujan for a minute or 2, but as always, she was too fast for me. Alki is great as there are several water fountains and bathroom options, lots of dogs, and great views.

The run went well and I experimented a bit more on myself with another run/walk option (I now can barely remember when I boycotted the walk breaks and didn't want to do them). I did the first 12 miles (2:10) on the usual 9 minute run/1 minute walk schedule and I was already feeling a bit tired, so I went to a 4 minute run/1 minute walk for another hour. It definitely helped mentally and physically. After I hit the 3:10 mark, I just walked the last 1.65 miles to get to 19 miles and ate an Odwalla bar while walking to get the recovery started ASAP. I took splits on all 3 segments to look at avg. pace and HR to help with formulating my race plan for IMC. I already have my goal swim and bike times in mind and am close to nailing down my run goal.

After the run, I did a quick stretch and forced myself to get in the water for an "ice bath" (remember the chafe thing? Now let's talk about another term, "rubbing salt in a wound," OUCH). Not surprisingly, Puget Sound is a hell of a lot colder than Lake Washington and I could only take it for about 3-4 minutes. But I think it really helped...felt a bit less "tin man" than usual when I got out of the car. Got home and took a long hot shower, the steam of which set off the fire alarm and annoyed the dogs.

Summary:

19 miles
Total Time: 3:36:30

Chunks:
Doing 9 min run/1 min walk
11.96 miles
2:10:00 (=10:53 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 133bpm

Doing 4 min run/1 min walk
5.4 miles
1:00:00 (11:07 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 138 bpm

Walking
1.65 miles
0:26:28 (16:05 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 105 bpm