November 16, 2008
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Yesterday I ran my standard 9 mile route in reverse. I wanted to do the last mile of my long run at ‘race pace’ on a flat section, and reversing this course made it so that the last mile was flat. My goal for the workout was to stay in zone 2 until the last mile, then go at a 10k race pace. I was hoping for a pace of 8 m/m for that last mile. I’m always chasing that dream!

It turned out to be really neat reversing my run. I felt like I was running an entirely new route! Here’s a rundown of my thoughts as I ran.

First Mile: I always feel pretty blah the first mile or so until my legs warm up. Nothing different here!

Kenmore and Brookview: Running these two hills in reverse felt no different. I had always thought Brookview was worse than Kenmore, but they are exactly the same by feel, and also you can see this in the elevation graph. I usually fly down hills fast, because it is fun. There were tons of leaves and pine cones along the side of Kenmore, so I had to run carefully to avoid tripping. Wah! Running up Brookview I felt great and thought how much I love hills. I really do!

reverserun.jpg

Piney Mountain: This road usually feels really hard. I had always thought it was generally more uphill than down. Today doing it in reverse, I felt strong and fast. Actually, I think it’s about the same both directions. I guess it feels hard normally because it is near the end of the run, so I am fatigued.

When I got to the corner of Piney Mountain and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, the time was 55 minutes. That’s 5 minutes faster than I expected. Yeah, I was running strong today!

Elliot: Elliot always feels hard because it is one of those long gradual climbs. In reverse, it was marvelous and I was simply flying!

Ridgecrest/Tadley: These two hills are identical, just like Kenmore/Brookview. I never noticed that before!

The Lake: I got to the lake at 1:06:41. If I could run those last three miles at a pace of 10, this would be a PR time for me. I was really excited!

Miles 7 and 8: I was starting to feel tired but tried to maintain focus here. I was almost out of water. I had a Gu that I wanted to eat so I’d have a burst of energy for that last hard mile. But not enough water to wash it down, so I skipped it.

Last mile: I didn’t look at my overall time when I got to mile 8. I just hit the lap timer and starting going hard. I was trying to focus on fast feet and forward lean. I felt tired and running fast was hard. At the half way point of this last one mile stretch, I looked at my split time. It was 4:37. Crap, no chance of a pace of 8 now. I kept going as hard as I could anyway. At one point I thought “why bother, I should just stop here since I’m not going the pace I want anyway”. I did not stop, I kept going as hard as possible. When I got to the end, the mile split was 9:02. My overall time was 1:38:15, pace of 10:37. Not even a PR for the entire run. I was so angry that I slammed my water bottle to the ground, and then sulked all the way home. I felt really crappy about the entire run, because I could NOT run the last mile at a pace of 8. Later, I realized how stupid this was. The first eight miles of the run were great, and I was happy, and I felt strong and fast. Who cares that I couldn’t run a pace of 8 on and empty tank and tired legs? That’s an unreasonable expectation anyway.

So, in the end, I feel great about this run. I am a great runner! I will keep telling myself that. I think, therefore, I am.

Here’s a fun tool to reverse a string of text…Have fun!