Super Sunday Long Run

Each year our club volunteers for the “Victorian Fair” in Melrose. Melrose has many Victorian style homes that are just amazing. I have been told that many of these homes were built by railroad owners and executives.

It’s a big street fair with vendors and local civic organizations. The Melrose Running Club always has a booth and manages the 5K race for EMARC.

Because so many of us volunteer at the race, booth or both, the SLR started at 7AM this week. I volunteered to help set up the race, so I missed the group.

After setting up for the race, I had a nice pancake breakfast at The Knights of Columbus and headed out for my solo run.

The solo run

I knew I was going to miss the group run. For the past few days I had considered various routes. Since I was in Melrose to set up for the race any way, I decided to keep it simple and do last weeks run all over again, all 21 miles of it.

I’m very good at getting lost, or taking wrong turns at the very least. Why take chances and run a marathon by mistake?

I knew there were three water fountains along this route and that I would pass each one twice. I loaded up my running belt with gels, some cash and my ID and headed out with a frozen water bottle in my hand.

This map is from last week and shows mile 14 past where I hit mile 14 this week.

The Plan and the Execution of said plan

My plan was to practice walking water stops. This is the strategy I am considering for Baystate. As any runner will tell you, don’t try anything new on race day. Long runs are the places to try things out.

Since I wasn’t going to even have club water stops I decided to walk every two miles for a minute. I took my first walk break at mile 3 which was walking up the road into Breakheart Reservation, past the ice rink. It was a good spot as this was the first “hill” I encountered on the run. I had plenty of ice water in my bottle still, so I skipped the fountain at the ranger’s building in the park.

As I was coming down the last hill before the parking lot and ranger’s station my watch chimed “Mile 5.” I decided to hold out until I got to the station and refill my bottle.

I jogged across the parking lot and stopped my watch. Last week I did the same thing and forgot to start my watch for about a quarter-mile. I made my way to the water fountain, refilled my bottle, drank half of it and refilled again. I also took my first GU.

I dropped my GU packet in the trash, started my watch and headed down the drive way back out to The Fellsway.

It was about 10° cooler than last week and much less humid also. It was still warm, so I tried to run in the shade as much as possible. Running in the shade can make a big difference on a warm day, I highly recommend it!

As I turned right onto the Fellsway I knew I was just getting started. I did a quick systems check and nothing really hurt. I wasn’t any more tired than I should have been at 6 miles and my stomach and bladder were not chiming in. All systems go!

I turned onto Main Street in Saugus and began the slow climb to Farm Road in Wakefield. At Water Street I took a right, crossed the road and quickly took a left onto Montrose.

Montrose was hilly and curvy, which is great on a woman but not on a run. Maybe because I was by my self I noticed them more this time. I could feel my legs getting tired and my IB bands were getting tight. The run was on!

I took the left onto Lowell Street and knew the road to the lake was long, and uphill. I passed the little store where Matt stopped for water last week. I drank all but one big gulp of water during my last walk break. I wanted a little something just in case.

At the Vernon Street intersection I had to wait for a fire truck. While all the lights were still red, I made my way through the intersection. I was doing pretty good staying in the shade and felt pretty good considering the distance I had covered.

At the intersection of Main and Lowell, I found my second water fountain, by the lake. I filled up and continued on. My walk breaks were a little off, but that was okay. By the time I got to my third fountain on Church Street (14.1 miles) I was ready for a refill and my third GU. I used the water stop as my walk break and took a minute to stretch a little. The hip abductors and piriformi were tight.

People, oy!

Running around the lake or any popular walking and running area can be a challenge. People walking three abreast can’t be bothered to step back to let you pass. I may only weigh 170, but if I hit one of these folks doing 8mph, I think they are going down. It aint going to be pretty. I have little tolerance for douche-bagery. Not yielding is being an utter douche bag.

People with dogs are pretty good about reeling them in. They know they are in a busy place and they have to be good citizens.

Then there are those times when you have walkers, runners and cyclist all coming at you at the same time. Holy shit! The cyclists are pretty good, though I’ve had a few close calls.

Walkers tend to be utterly fucking clueless. I just had to get that off my chest. I called out “On the right” once today and the lady steps to the right. Heloooo!

I skipped the fountain at the head of the lake, made my way through the Comverse parking lot and headed back out to North Avenue for my second lap around the lake. The people were pretty good, but many seem to forget that they have a 10 foot wide sidewalk.

I stopped at the fountain on Church Street again (17 miles). I filled my bottle, took a GU and did some stretching. As I was having my way with the fountain another runner stopped and asked if he could get a drink. Absolutely.

We had a good chat about running and how things have changed. We talked about The Melrose Running Club, injuries and the usual stuff. I had taken my last GU and refilled my water bottle for the last 7 miles home. We were both eager to get going and headed in opposite directions.

The haul down Main Street in Wakefield to Main Street Melrose is just over 7 miles. My goal on this run was to test the walk breaks and try to keep fairly consistent splits. Mile 15 was 8:20 which is pretty good considering it was through downtown Wakefield. Mile 18 was 8:21 and mile 20 was 9:44 due to my walk break.

My average pace was 8:42, which was 1:39 per mile faster than last week. I think the method worked, but I’ll want to test it at least one more time before I trust my next marathon to it.

How was your long run this weekend?
Did you try out any new gear, food or strategies?

Run well my friends,

Andy

© 2014 anagelin