<Cue evil laugh> ... "Bwaah-haaa-haaa-haaaaaaaaa!!!!"
That's how today's long run was introduced the first time I ever ran it, as a marathon-wannabe-newbie (just two summers ago, by the way), and it's stuck ever since. The official name of our route is, simply, "The Parker Run", but it's come to be known as "The Infamous Parker Run", followed by the evil laugh, of course.
Now, we run a variety of courses on our weekend long runs. I think our coach has over 150 different courses throughout the Denver and Boulder metro areas, so we don't ever run the same course twice within a training session. We have several other hilly courses (which you'll no doubt hear about in this blog at some point), but this one trumps them all. Why? Well, take a look at the elevation profile, but pay particular attention to the total climb and total elevation change:
Total Climb: 1012 ft
Total Elevation Change:1864 ft
As you can see, this is one hilly course! And I have to tell you, too, that these aren't hills of the "rolling hill" variety (not that those are necessarily any easier within the context of a long run), but these puppies are long. And steep. They're unrelenting, and will do a number on you not only physically but also mentally if you're not prepared for them--and sometimes even when you are.
The Parker Run course is always set out for a maximum of 24 miles--12 out and back--but not everyone goes the same distance. (It depends on where you are in your training plan.) Until this session, this was always one of my 24-mile long runs that I had in my training schedule, so I usually ended up running solo from the 22-mile turnaround (which is the 11-mile mark) out and back to the finish/start. It was a great mental boost to me when I'd finished, knowing that I'd accomplished a 24-mile, very hilly route (and often in some fairly intense Colorado heat). Today, however, I "only" had 22 miles of The Parker Run to do, since my coach took out the 24 milers and added more goal pace runs to my level training plan.
We started off very conservatively, as we always do on our long runs, so that we can get warmed up properly and not burn too much glycogen--our primary fuel--too fast. On this course, that's also when we're giving our bodies an introduction to the shock of what we're about to ask them to do! After we've picked up the pace ever so slightly during those first two miles, we start to get into the "middle miles" of our run--for me today those were the middle 19 miles-- and we run those in thirds, with each third targeting an average pace. Of course, that average pace gradually gets faster, but since this isn't a goal pace run, it's still slower than what we'll try to target on our race day. The purpose of our long run today was to build endurance, stamina, and strength (hence the hills). The final mile is done again at a slower pace in order to start the recovery process and flush the lactic acid and other "garbage" out of our legs. Actually doing that last mile at a slower pace but yet continuing to run is tough, though, because your body wants to either keep running at your current pace or stop and walk altogether.
Out of my pace group, there are four of us preparing for the Boston Marathon, so we all had 22 on our schedule today, and also a few others who are doing later races who also had 22. This is a key workout for everyone, but especially for the Boston bound folks, because it's two weeks before race day and gives us not only the training effect of the hills, but also the mental edge we need to fortify us for that day. We ran and we talked and we took notice of the gorgeous view of the mountains, and as each hill approached we employed our best uphill technique and before we knew it (well, maybe not that fast) we'd crested the hill...time to practice that downhill running technique. For several hours we did this, and spurred each other on if the hill suddenly seemed even larger and our legs even heavier. At one point, as we were nearing the final push of the long (or should I say Long, with a capital "L"), arduous hill near the school, one of my friends and Boston-bound teammates who was running beside me said "C'mon, Donna! To the top!" and we both gave it an extra kick and increased our turnover to take the rest of that hill as if we weren't tired at all. I couldn't help but wonder if she also had the same mental picture as I did: running up that final hill in Boston, crowds screaming...?
It's amazing what the power of running with a group can do...Although we often get somewhat separated naturally as we run--especially on a long run like this one--we still know that our teammates--friends, now--are there close by, running the same tough, hilly course in the same heat as we are, and encouraging us on no matter how they feel. As an aside, I have to tell you: runners (at least the ones in my group, but I'd like to think the majority of runners out there) are some of the most encouraging people around.
And so it is that as we reached miles 15...16...17, we all remarked that we "couldn't believe" that we'd reached that mile "already".
By the time we reached mile 22, the recovery mile, our final one for today, we'd gotten spread out again, but it no longer mattered. As we ran to the finish in the beautiful, warm Colorado sunshine, we'd done it again...we'd finished yet another Infamous Parker Run.
For me, today, it was a good run, one that I needed not just physically, but mentally as well.
Wham! Parker hills DONE! We came, we saw, we ran!
Relentless Forward Motion, ya'll!
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