A sweet 12 miler

It’s not often that I get to say this, but Sunday was one of those rare long slow distance days, where everything seemed to go smoothly and where I didn’t have any major aches or pains getting me down. Other than being a little nippy with a few light sprinkles at the beginning , I’d say it was a near perfect walk.

Did my usual route from the foot of Market st along the SF waterfront to the foot of the Golden Gate bridge and back. The time seemed to fly by, and as the Ferry Building clock came into view on my way back in, I remember breaking out in a huge grin. I had covered 12 miles in 3:05 , or just a tad over a 15min/mile pace. A little fast for a long slow day, and a little slow for a tempo walk, but I’m very happy overall. I’m also happy that I was able to contain my urge to racewalk for long intervals and instead, only racewalked enough to bank some extra time for the pits stops. I think this strategy helped save my legs and maybe even my lungs.

Just 6 weeks ago after completing my first 10 miler of the season, I remember saying to myself (as I always do at the beginning of marathon training) ” If I feel this bad after walking 10 miles, how in the hell am I ever going to walk 26.2? ” Ever ask yourself the same question?
Isn’t it amazing though, that by being persistent in your training and gradually increasing your mileage by just one or two miles every other week , that you end up conditioning both your body and mind to the point where those medium distances of 10-14 miles (what I call base walks), actually get easier and you end up with a day like I had today.

My lungs held out great during the walk ( I think I only used my inhaler 4 times), but course later on that evening, just like clockwork, my peak flows took a nose dive and Ive been flaring up pretty significantly ever since. In my book though , this is a small price to pay for such a stellar workout.

Next weekend starts the serious stuff….a 19 miler followed two weeks later by 21 miler , with a 12 and 14 miler on the alternate weeks. Will it ever end?