LSD

No, not the hallucinogen. The run. THE run. The long slow distance run. In running jargon this is the run that is done at what is known as a "conversational pace", which very simply means you should be able to have a conversation while running. Not a dissertation or a debate, just a conversation. This is a hard concept for new runners to wrap their mind around. In fact it's probably a hard concept for anyone to wrap their minds around. The idea is that you have to be deliberate in your running. There is no "as fast as you can" no push beyond the limit of your fastest. This is not how the LSD works. Instead the LSD should be a pace that you could sustain for, oh, about 26.2 miles or so. Maybe 26.2 miles sounds like a distance that might as well read: to the moon and back. Maybe, if you're an ultramarathoner, 26.2 miles might as well read: stroll in the park. For me, it's the former. So, the problem that presents itself is this, if you've never run a marathon, how do you know what pace to run at? Well you could operate at 60-70% of you MHR if you know what your MHR is, if you even know WHAT a MHR is. Or you could i-rate your exertion scale and run at a 6-7 on a scale of 1-10. Or you could just run with someone else and have a conversation. 

Today was my first LSD since my break. Well it was technically my first LSD at all considering that to this point, every long run I did was at a pace where I felt like I would essentially die at any minute. Who wants to feel like they are going to die for 26.2 miles? Not me. So I should run my LSD at my "marathon"pace, which based on some formulas should be like 12-13 minutes a mile. But I don't know my marathon pace so I just took the dep with me and talked with him. It translated into a 11:12 average pace (Or so says the nike+ but I don't know if that can be relied upon for 100% accuracy). It's hard to run with the dep for a couple of reasons. 1. He runs 3 miles. I mean that is his run. His running focus is ALWAYS qualifying in his mile and a half PT test. He doesn't run 5 miles and he doesn't think in terms of longevity. It's balls to the wall so to speak, and that is how he operates. That's funny because he is not a "balls to the wall" type of guy. Not in the slightest. The #2 reason he's hard to run with is that he is 6ish feet tall. This means that his legs are basically the same length os my entire body. His one step = my four. (ok not four but at least two). SO this causes frustration for me. I'm a self admitted easily frustrated person. I've never participated in team sports so my concept of coaching is "just do it".  In fact, my concept of most things in life is "just do it". It works in some circumstances, some not so much. The last time we ran together I was so frustrated with his "coaching" that I told his to just be quiet. I appreciate that he is trying to motivate and he could make me run faster but then he doesn't really get the concept that I'm not trying to be faster.

So.. that brings me to the point of this post. The LSD. Today was my LSD run. 5.44 miles. 1:01. Average pace 11:12/mile. And? Pain. No. Breathlessness. No. Exhaustion. No. Success. Yes.