SRRC long run -- Sun. May 25

After lectoring it was a bit of a rush to get there, but still made it by bike to DnD for 10:00. Mark and Ivan there, and Andy, no Jason; also Dawn and (anthro) Bill. Suggested doing last week's run but adding the canal loop, for probably a bit over 10 miles total. All okayed this (Dawn did her usual 6, solo, alas) though I thought Mark and maybe Ivan might want to peel off for the 8 miler. We set out very gently, doing 8 and 8:30+ on the opening trails, then picked up a bit on the roads. Summit Hill was Bill leading and me working to stay even, with Andy jogging along too; we waited at the top for the others, then headed down t'other side. Bill and I pulled ahead as we took more of a 7:30 and less pace; was good to push it a bit, though I knew the distance would be tough. The last mile of the canal was predictably hard, and the rail trail more of a struggle than when I'm fitter. I let Bill's pace push me a bit, as he was comfortable with anything. Here's how it ended up:

Time: 1:24:18
Distance: 11.15 miles
Speed: 7.9 mph

Comments: communicated poorly w/ Andy re running on ahead, and he arrived a little in front of the other two maybe ten minutes after us, a bit ticked. He said they'd lost the route (which was my responsibility, I know, but I thought they'd be okay; my bad), and indeed they came different way, but the distance was practically identical (11.04 on Ivan's gps). Oof. I'll email him and apologise. It would really be easier if we could get a bigger bunch involved; I must do some recruiting. . .

Running wise, this is the longest time and distance I've done since January. Finally back on the way up to 14+ runs, I think; but it will take time. Bill gave me some good tips on hill work: like speed work, it needs to be done separately from continuous running. Yuhuh. Not my favorite thing -- I like to run as travel, not as exercise. But I'll make an exception for speed and hills as long as I can get in three real runs a week on top. Here's what he recommended:
1. Find a hill (he uses Jabish).
2. Run up it hard for 2 minutes.
3. Jog back down.
4. Repeat 4 times (later increase to 5 or 6)
I can even work that into a real run, I think. . .