Long Run at San Gabriel Park- Deer and Snails

This is a pic from my long run today.

Workouts for the week:

Monday- 1300 yd swim

Tuesday- 3.94 miles - (run group- grass fartlek)

Wednesday- Rest Day

Thursday- 2.5 miles- (indoor track)
Friday- 3 miles-(trail on base)
19 min weight/strength session
Saturday- Rest Day
Sunday- 9.54 mile long run (San Gabriel Park)

End of the Week Recap: 
So, I went out of town this weekend and because of that, my regular workout routine was kind of interrupted. I got all 4 of my runs and ran one of my longest runs ever ( cracked into my top ten runs of all time!) I also got my weight/strength workout in this week. I however did NOT get my three swims in, I only swam once. However, I am happy I got to spend time with my sister and my best friend on our run on Friday. Running with two of your favorite people and having a good breakfast afterwards is always worth it!

Today's long run splits: 9.54 miles- 2 hours, 7 minutes, 1 sec- 13:19 overall pace

Pretty happy with this run. I started off pretty slow, which got me kinda worried, but my husband and I had a date night last night at Milano Trattora. We never ate there before, but it was pretty good, especially as we both ate an appetizer, entree and dessert for 40 bucks total, including tip! Not bad!

(Our dessert last night! Maybe not the best idea the night before a long run, BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!)

So, back to our run. My husband was running with me today to try and get me to reach my goal- cracking my top ten runs ever! I needed to get over 9 miles, but was shooting for somewhere between 9.30- 9.60 miles at an 13:20 min overall pace. 

We started off slow, with both of us having stomach problems and ended up taking a bathroom break on the 2nd mile. This is why my 2nd mile was even SLOWER then my slow first mile. Things were not looking so hot for me reaching my goal pace. 

But then, around the 3 mile mark, things started to look up. We saw a lot of deer around this time. I normally see deer around this area, but never this much, they were everywhere and I think the distraction of the deer took my mind off the run. 

We started at San Gabriel Park, right around the bathrooms, went through Rivery Park and right past the bathrooms where the parking lot for Booty Trail is. I have to say, I am glad we did not make it to the big hill on Booty Trail today as I don't think I could have handled it. 

At the point in this pic, Vince is checking the pace as he had it today like he does when he runs with me so he can tell me when to pick it up. This is around the 3 mile mark and my pace dropped a lot as we were running on the flat part where the houses are before you turn into the dam. I like running there on this area, as there is a downhill right after this point- but do not like running back as the hill comes after the multiple small hills in the forest. 

After we went past the hill, my calves were really starting to feel it and my back was hurting. I was glad I was wearing my trail shoes as there was a lot of mud today since it rained yesterday, and a lot of rocks in this area. 

Right after the 3rd mile though, my energy was really starting to drag and my pace started to go down again. I had brought one gel and one bag of Sports Jelly Belly Extra Caffeine with me. I took the first gel, which had no caffeine, after 1 mile and was waiting to take the other one after the turn around. It took a while to kick in as my miles 5 and 6 were still getting slower, but by mile 7, I could feel it and ran my fastest mile to that point- 12:17. I really felt better when Vince told me that as I thought I had a good shot at negative splitting.

By this point we were back around Rivery Park and the deers had pretty much gone away, but the snails were out in full-force. I felt bad as I saw several had been stepped on. I felt good though, as I feel a kinship with snails as we are both slow, but they always make me fast in comparison, so I like that. 

Mile 8 was a little slower, but I picked it up again and my 9th mile was my fastest of them all: 12:06! I was so suprised I was able to do that pace after about 2 hours! I ended the last .54 mile a little slower with a 12:42 pace- doing it in 6 min, 51 sec, but still, I'm happy with the way I ended.

(Pic of me after my run, before the cooldown)

Although we started at around the bathrooms in San Gabriel Park, we had negative split coming back and I wanted to run the full 2 hours, 7 minutes and so we ended up finishing around the frisbee golf area on the little loop and I did a 5 minute cooldown. 

And that's all folks! 

Week 6 of marathon training in the bag! 26 weeks till the marathon!! - 19% done with training!