Back with a vengeance!

On the heels of a very disappointing 5K on Wednesday and a day off yesterday, I decided to do a long run. Long run = understatement. I stopped off at Fleet Feet for some advice on hydration and nutrition during long runs and got some great advice and bought a few different brands of gels to try them out.  Here's my time breakdown:

4.25 mi in 00:35:00. (8:14 min/mi pace) Took my first gel, orange flavored Accel Gel.
7.5 mi in 1:06:00. (8:48 min/mi pace) Took my second gel, orange flavored GU gel.
10.75 mi in 1:41:00 (9:23 min/mi pace) Took my last gel, orange flavored Hammer gel.

Legs were pretty beat up so I had to walk a little between short runs to get through the whole half marathon distance. But I did it!!!
First Half-Marathon Distance: 13.1 mi in 2:12:00 (10:04 min/mi pace)

I just couldn't continue running after this so I walked the rest of the way back. Finished the whole 15 miles in 2:45:00 (overall 11:00 min/mi pace).

My longest previous run without walking was 7 miles. Beat that by 3.75 miles and destroyed that 7 mile time by 6 minutes! My previous longest distance period was 9 miles. Beat that by 6 miles!

The gels were an interesting new twist for me.  I wanted to compare the effects of the 3 different brands but realized that no matter what I'd be more tired after the second and third ones.  Even so, I didn't like the taste of the Hammer gel and didn't really feel much from it.  I think I'll try the Accel and GU again.

I think I'm going to start taking it a bit easier.  I have to remember that I have plenty of time to get ready to run a marathon and don't need to injure myself by doing too much, too soon.  I got pretty frustrated after my poor showing on Wednesday that I overcompensated today and just ran until I could barely walk.  I'm going to focus on my next 5K and following 10K and shelve the 13.1 milers for a little while.