My first 13.1 mi training run

This is a milestone that I never thought I would achieve and that too I finished at nearly my target of 10min/mi. I finished in 2:13 on a sunny early afternoon with 60F temperature. I prepared by having a couple of slices of bread with peanut butter, cup of oatmeal, coffee around 2 hours before the run.  I carried a bottle of water and off to run.

First up, I felt a bit heavy in the stomach, so I guess I need to eat 3 hours prior. As the run progressed I felt the heaviness disappear and I consciously tried to keep a steady 10 min/mi pace. I also reduced the walkin breaks and used it only when I felt I was breathing hard. I think walkins help but should be used only when required because otherwise they break the running rythm.

The course which winded through La Jolla Shores has a 2 mi uphill run, out of which 1 mi is at 2% gradient and a mile at nearly 7% gradient. I tried to finish strong on the hill, and the steepest mile i ran with 3 min strong runs, 1 min breaks and I put effort to finish strong. Another thing I did was to do a strong 1 mile run after the hill to get back the rythm and make up time. I think last few runs  I have not picked up rythm and slacked off, resulting in bad times so this time right after the hill also i ran hard.

The key to time is for me to keep comfort breathing while running as hard as I can at the breathing rythm and keeping check of it periodically to watch for slack.

The last two miles were just on inspiration my back and hip were sore, so I did all i could to finish strong and I think now I am ready for the El Paso half marathon. On a side note I think the speed workouts help and taking a weekend off before this run also helped.