Four Squared

After our unintentionally shortened "long" run last weekend, A and I felt like we'd hit a wall.  We hadn't built on our distance for weeks, and our longest run to date was only 15 miles.  Last Saturday we set out to run 16, and we picked a foolproof route to make it happen.

Actually, I had mapped out 16 miles on streets we know well earlier in the week, but Friday night A had an inspired idea while sitting on the toilet (hallowed ground where he usually does his most inspired thinking).  He emerged from the bathroom and said, "Why don't we do our 4-mile run 4 times?"

While this might sound arduous, it felt like exactly what the doctor ordered.  This is a route that I could (and have, in fact) run in the dark.  It's our go-to run when it has been a long day and we want to knock something out just to get it over with.  It’s our path of least resistance.  It's what we call our "Level 1".

Familiarity aside, another benefit was we that could quickly refuel at the car with water and chews after completing each loop.  It felt liberating to know I didn’t have to sherpa a bra full of energy gels over a 16-mile slog.

The one negative was that A had complained before that he was sick of running this same street over and over again.  But since this loopy plan was his idea, I figured I would run with it.

I was nervous when we began, and that translated into running faster than advised.  This was also a course we were used to doing quickly, which probably didn’t help us modulate our speed.  All through the first 4 miles, I felt great.  I even arrogantly entertained the idea of doing an extra loop.  Wouldn’t that be a kick if we just knocked out 20 right here and now as if it was nothing?

I thought the second lap felt than the first, but our running watch data shows that we maintained our pace.  The third lap I started to get weary, especially around mile 10.  I suggested to A that we do the loop clockwise instead of our standard direction, just for a slightly different view.  By the time we hit the car after mile 12, I was pretty disheartened by how exhausted I was and we hadn’t even finished a half marathon distance.  That being said, A tracked our time at the 13.1 mark and we bested our official half marathon time from last January, the second time in our training that we have done so.  But it was all for naught since at that point I was completely zonked.  I begged A to slow down at the start of the 15th mile, even though we had already slowed significantly.  At a water stop, I told A I was losing it.  Eventually I told him to run ahead.  I didn’t stop running, but I was substantially slower than A as he grew tinier with every step he ran ahead of me.  We met back up at the car, where I finished about two minutes behind.  My pace for the last 3 miles was a full minute slower than the first 10.

My struggles at the finish aside, I did like the format.  We both felt it was successful enough to try it again this weekend.  We’re adding a new loop to incrementally increase our mileage, but keeping the same basic premise.  The challenge this Saturday will be to start slow enough to conserve energy and not lose steam once I get into double digits.  A is even dreaming of a negative split, which I’m dubious about but we’ll see.  If we start slow enough, I guess anything is possible.