My longest run in over 2 years

Yesterday I drove to Kingston with a couple of friends to run the 45km perimeter loop in Frontenac provincial park. I've done this loop twice before, last time was Jun 2019. 

I haven't run 45 km since September 2019. My longest run since was about 32km and on trails much less rugged and technical.

I was excited to go and see where my fitness landed. I was also a bit nervous about my pace compared to the friends I was with - both are much stronger and faster than me. I knew they'd let me set the pace though and while I lack speed, I have been feeling very strong.

I have been piling on the mileage over the last couple of months, trying to test my limits, but finding I've been feeling surprisingly good despite the increased load. 

I decided not to rest, rather to go in feeling a bit tired. I stuck to my running schedule the week leading up to it. This would be my highest weekly mileage as well.

I also wanted to test my ability to carry all liquid and food and my goal was to eat ALOT. One of my biggest challenges in the past was eating enough on longer efforts. 

We were so fortunate to get a perfect day in terms of conditions. The weather for end of October couldn't have been better and the colours were still spectacular.

One of my favourite things about this particular area is the lakes - it always amazes me to look UP at a body of water. There are so many sections where there is a lake to each side, one is below you and one is above. There is also so much diversity in terrain - rocky, difficult, technical sections mixed with flowy runnable single track sections and enough rolling hills to keep you humble.

I love data. 

I FELT strong but slow. I FELT consistent but slow. I FELT like it was the best of the 3 times I've run here, but definitely the slowest.

I felt like I enjoyed the whole, I accomplished my goal of eating lots, and I finished feeling confident I could go further.

As it turned out it was the fastest of all three. I am still SO surprised. Great reminder that feelings aren't always accurate.

I have a lot more work to do to get to where I want to be next august, but I'm so excited to feel I'm alot further along than I thought.