8.26m at Sandhills (LSD)

8.26m at 9.17 pace w/ Avg HR of 157 (Zone 2, 80.6% of max)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not gonna do splits on this long run but needless to say the last few miles were fast, with the last clocking in at 8.68 (HR - 164)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the run where we leave the wife's mom's house, meander around the neighborhood a bit, and then hit up Sandhills and head back to the house. This is usually a hot and difficult course, in which we usually do poorly, but I'm not exactly sure why. The elevation profile is not that bad, maybe it's all the concrete running and the consequent heat.

Anyway, it wasn't as hot and wasn't as difficult this time, as this was the fastest and longest run of the pre-plan season. Jen did extremely well, even "pulling" me along for a bit around Sandhills. She's really made a lot of progress from the first time we ran this particular course (4/19/09) when we only did 5.23 miles. Each week has been a little longer, but this time we made big strides in pace.

It was sunny, so I wore my halo headband, white running hat, and shorts (no shirt). I was soaked afterwards and was really tired while trying to mow the lawn.