Negative Splits On A Long Run
Something a little different this morning for my long run.
I ran a twelve mile long run this morning with one of my running partners (Annie P.). She is also one of my Bulldog Challenge teammates (and she is really fast). Our other two partners (Cathy and Michael - aka Ninja Stuntman) were out of town so it was just us this morning.
We decided to run out to Isle of Palms and do negative splits. I love doing negative split runs, but I had never done them on anything longer than five miles.
The goal is to start slow and finish fast. This is a great workout for people like me who like to start fast, but burn out at the end of a race.
Surprisingly. the hardest part of the run is not the finish. Its trying to go slow at the beginning.
We started at 11:00 pace for the first mile and planned on dropping fifteen seconds every mile (it should look something like this - 11:00, 10:45, 10:30, 10:15, 10:00, 9:45, 9:30, 9:15, 9:00, 8:45, 8:30, 8:15).
Our second and third miles were a little fast (10:30, 10:20). We hit some crazy wind on miles four through six (10:05, 9:40, 9:15), but kept a strong pace. We both refueled on gels at the turnaround (recently, I switched to Honey Stinger Energy Chews and I love them).
The morning was really incredible and running on the islands is always a blast. I love looking out at the ocean as I cross the breach inlet between Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms. The sky was bright blue and scattered with white clouds. Usually you can see dolphins swimming in the water, but today there was a family of geese floating in the current (so cool).
I could really feel the pace pick up on the way back (9:00, 8:50, 8:40). We made a quick stop at the gas station and then headed back over the Ben Sawyer Bridge. There was a running group ahead of us as we came up to the bridge. I could tell Annie was ready to take off, so I told her to kill it on the last three miles and I would try to keep up.
Annie must have dropped way below 8:00 pace because she was flying! I picked it up as much as I could, but there was no keeping up with her (chasing after twenty three year old women is painful). I did pass the other running group and kept increasing the pace until I finished the run (8:23, 8:11, 7:56).
The cool part of of this workout is that although it finishes like a 5K, its easy enough at the beginning that it feels like a relaxed long run. I was toast after the run, but it sure was fun.
Oh, something else cool happened at the end of this run. The group we passed on the bridge was parked next to us at Alhambra Hall. It was one of their birthdays and they had a cake and mimosas to celebrate! I took a group picture for them and they even offered me something to drink and a peace of cake (unfortunately, after that run I was not feeling it for drinks or cake)...
I ran a twelve mile long run this morning with one of my running partners (Annie P.). She is also one of my Bulldog Challenge teammates (and she is really fast). Our other two partners (Cathy and Michael - aka Ninja Stuntman) were out of town so it was just us this morning. We decided to run out to Isle of Palms and do negative splits. I love doing negative split runs, but I had never done them on anything longer than five miles.
The goal is to start slow and finish fast. This is a great workout for people like me who like to start fast, but burn out at the end of a race.
Surprisingly. the hardest part of the run is not the finish. Its trying to go slow at the beginning.
We started at 11:00 pace for the first mile and planned on dropping fifteen seconds every mile (it should look something like this - 11:00, 10:45, 10:30, 10:15, 10:00, 9:45, 9:30, 9:15, 9:00, 8:45, 8:30, 8:15).
Our second and third miles were a little fast (10:30, 10:20). We hit some crazy wind on miles four through six (10:05, 9:40, 9:15), but kept a strong pace. We both refueled on gels at the turnaround (recently, I switched to Honey Stinger Energy Chews and I love them).
I could really feel the pace pick up on the way back (9:00, 8:50, 8:40). We made a quick stop at the gas station and then headed back over the Ben Sawyer Bridge. There was a running group ahead of us as we came up to the bridge. I could tell Annie was ready to take off, so I told her to kill it on the last three miles and I would try to keep up.
Annie must have dropped way below 8:00 pace because she was flying! I picked it up as much as I could, but there was no keeping up with her (chasing after twenty three year old women is painful). I did pass the other running group and kept increasing the pace until I finished the run (8:23, 8:11, 7:56).
The cool part of of this workout is that although it finishes like a 5K, its easy enough at the beginning that it feels like a relaxed long run. I was toast after the run, but it sure was fun.Oh, something else cool happened at the end of this run. The group we passed on the bridge was parked next to us at Alhambra Hall. It was one of their birthdays and they had a cake and mimosas to celebrate! I took a group picture for them and they even offered me something to drink and a peace of cake (unfortunately, after that run I was not feeling it for drinks or cake)...
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