Week 5, Day 7 - 16 week full IM training

Went to bed around 11 PM last night...Woke at 7 AM. Hope had some eye gunk going on which we thought might have been pink eye so we just stayed home.

Long run
1:40 minutes
12 miles (8:20 pace)
Feel MUCH better than the 12 I did two weeks ago when my hips were hurting so bad (body is getting used to the longer distances...always happens like that and just takes one long run or two to re-acclimate).
Not worried about distance or speed on these long, Sunday runs. I'm looking at heart rate and strides per minute. Program said to keep HR in the 1-2 zone, which for me is in the 120s to 130s so I tried to keep it in the 130s, Ended up averaging 142. I just can't make myself run that slow. Goal is to keep a 180 strides per minute beat going.

I checked every ten minutes and counted my steps for 1 minute. No water or gels on run. Ran to 351 towards I20, left on southern access road, immediate right on Griffith, then just followed some back roads until I got to Hwy 80, right over to Judge Ely then out and around Shotwell Stadium and back home the way I came. Hips never started hurting. My achilles tendons are somewhat tight, but nothing alarming.

The quick steps force me to land on the mid-foot and "stay out of my hips" as I like to say. Keeps me light on my feet, bouncing along That's an 8:20 pace. Happy with that. IMTX marathon pace goal is just under a 9:10 minute/mile pace (4 hours).

Was very tired before the run. Wanted nothing more than to take a long nap but glad I ended up running.

Menu:
pre-run: blended salad (see yesterday), a few carrots with almond butter
Rest of the day (in no particular order): recover drinks, bag of organic, baked, no salt tortilla chips (not a grab bag, but not a huge bag either),  2 avocados, cheese-less veggie supreme pizza from Domino's, bean burrito (Jenn got it for dinner but didn't end up eating it), dried mangos, dried bananas, raisins, dates, carrots with almond butter. Had a calorie overload today...feel like I've earned it.

TOTAL WEEK 5 VOLUME: 13:45
13 out of 16 workouts (of which five are completely optional)
Body feels great.