Diary of an overweight runner - First 'long' run

Today was my first official "long run" for the Disney Half Marathon in January. The word long is relative because in the grand scheme of 13.1 miles my plan to do 4-5 miles is not really long comparatively.

I ended up doing 4.8 miles in about 71 minutes, which calculates to about 14:47 minutes per mile. This included warm up/cool down. But it is still perfectly on pace with where I need to be for the 3 1/2 hour time limit on the Disney race. Proud of this.

I didn't really have a plan for what me run/walk intervals would be. I just listened to my body and ran when I felt like I could run and walked when I needed to rest. It worked out pretty well. I probably walked more than I needed to, but mostly I tried to run 5-7 minutes and walk 1-3 minutes.

I also tried shot blocks for the first time during a run. I ate 2 at the halfway mark and although I'm not sure I really needed them, I did not ever get a light-headed feeling like I sometimes do when I'm out doing longer distances.

I still don't have a plan on paper for training going forward, but I'm hoping Brad Gansberg can help me with that once I get off my ass and email him to take him up on his offer.

I hope to continue the "Diary of an Overweight Runner" series with a report on my training each week. The thought of doing the double digit training runs make me anxious. Yikes!