Steve and Glenn’s two hour LSD trip. It’s almost like “Harold & Kumar go to White Castle” without the marijuana or Doggie Howser and the burgers and cougar ride through the forest. LSD… and I’m not talking about the mind-altering drug. I’m talking the running term: “Long Slow Distance”. It’s what you do once a week to build aerobic capacity or something technical like that. Steve can explain it. I just went along because I know its good for my training. I’m trying to work in an LSD run into my schedule once a week. Sometimes it comes on a Tuesday or even a Wednesday. But Steve runs his LSD every Sunday. So this Sunday was my attempt to run an LSD with Steve every Sunday morning. I emphasize, ‘attempt’! Since July I’ve accomplished four 7+ mile runs, one 8 mile run in August (Central Park) and two 9+ mile runs. I had yet to accomplish a 10 mile run. And it was about time I did it. So when Steve offered up a 10 mile run for Sunday, I didn’t jump on it, I kinda eased into it forgoing a BRick consisting of a 30mile bike ride and a 5K run. The 10 mile run would be harder believe it or not. So after I debated and contemplated with myself, I agreed on a run slated for 8AM on Sunday morning. It was nice and cool and I was able to wear my winter running gear for the first time. A Brooks LSD light weight jacket and some gloves. The goal: to run a conversational 11-12 minute pace and a minute walk after every mile. We started at my house, worked our way to Mountain, hit Brand then ran up a short incline to Kenneth. Then we headed to Burbank. When we hit Grandview (3.83 miles into the run), we challenged ourselves with a .68 mile 277 foot incline climb. This led us into Brand Library. We ran through the parking lot, around the other side and back down to Kenneth where we made our way back home. The run was mostly flat except for the run up Grandview and two small hills. Steve and I were able to run side by side for the whole run and we talked pretty much through the whole thing. I haven’t talked to Steve for that long since we use to play D&D back in high school 20+ years ago. Come to think of it, I doubt anybody has talked to him for that long of a period of a time! Even his wife! LOL He’s kinda quiet. We kept the conversation up for 2 hours and didn’t need iPods. It was a good gauge of our exertion level and we were right on pace – conversational pace that is. We’ve come a long way since those crazy days of grade school and high school, which we rehashed, and it was great to run with him. Steve’s always been one my all time best friends. The brother I never had. He does practically everything I can get him into – from break dancing, comic books, D&D, paintball and Martial Arts! And I’m still working on the Triathlon thing with him. It’ll happen. My winter gear didn’t make me too hot. It was comfortable – even with the gloves. I hate running with cold hands and I think it was just cold enough to wear the jacket and gloves. Any warmer would have been too warm. There was a slight drizzle in the morning but the run was relatively dry. Early morning mist was still lingering but other than that no real moister except for sweat. I could have run without the jacket, two miles would have warmed me up enough, but it wasn’t uncomfortable and now I know my clothing layers for future ‘cooler’ runs. If you haven’t tried it, running with family or a good friend is a really GREAT way to start off a cool Sunday morning. Unfortunately for me, I still had to coach Jake’s T-Ball game at noon and with no rest, my legs were SHOT by the time I was able to get in bed at the end of the day. Here are the per mile splits and average HR for me: MILE SPLIT @ Ave BPM Mile 1 0:11:34 @ 163 Mile 2 0:11:01 @ 168 Mile 3 0:11:15 @ 171 Mile 4 0:11:28 @ 173 Mile 5 0:12:09 @ 176 Mile 6 0:11:34 @ 165 Mile 7 0:11:29 @ 168 Mile 8 0:11:40 @ 169 Mile 9 0:11:12 @ 171 Mile 10 0:10:43 @ 168 Mile 10.37 0:08:43 @ 140 (cool down walk) Low average heart rate means an excellent LSD! So there you have it. My first 10-miler. 11 next week, 12 the next, maybe two or three 13-milers in the weeks to follow and on December 3rd I will run my very first half-mary – the City of Angeles Half Marathon!