Pro Compression and DPR

Well this has certainly been an interesting week. I started my week out with just over 5 miles at 9:47/mile on Tuesday and 5.33 miles on Thursday at 9:51/mile. I wonder somewhat why my pacing is about the same regardless of the distance. I understand that recovery runs should be a bit easier, but I'm wondering if that means lower mileage or slower pace, perhaps both?

Previously my longest run was 15.1 miles. Several things went wrong during that run. I wasn't prepared. I ran the first 11 miles at a great pace but then quickly fell back to 12+minute miles. I had no water, gatorade or energy packets with me. To be honest I never knew what Gu, Cliff shots, etc were at the time. I also ran it alone. Well now I've kicked that distance to the curb, did a lot of things correctly during my run today. Yep, my run was a total of 16 miles! I couldn't believe it! It took 2 hours 37 minutes and 32 seconds. Calculating the pace it ends up around 9:51/mile. My previous half-marathon PR pace of 9:56 was kicked to the curb today!  I'm not sure what the heat map is all about but I ran a fairly consistent pace.

Mile Splits
Mile 1: 8:53 (oops!)
Mile 2: 9:32 (that's more like it)
Mile 3: 9:30
Mile 4: 9:12
Mile 5: 9:06
Mile 6: 9:15
Mile 7: 9:39
Mile 8: 9:42
Mile 9: 10:02
Mile 10: 10:22
Mile 11: 10:20
Mile 12: 10:37
Mile 13: 10:05
Mile 14: 10:38
Mile 15: 10:11
Mile 16: 10:26


I've learned a lot about recovering from the long-run.  Today I drank a gatorade recovery shake about 20 minutes after my run and threw on some compression socks.  These two things really seemed to help me.  My calves don't feel fatigued, my quads are rather sore but I think that's normal.  Foam rolling through the next few days will help that to go away.  If you have any other tips, leave them in the comments.

I purchased a pair of Pro Compression socks during this last week and they arrived yesterday.  I wore those today after my long-run.  I have a 17.5" calf and wear a size 10 shoe for most companies.  Their Small/Medium size marathon sock is the right size for me.  I also have a pair of compression socks from 2XU.  While I like the socks from Pro Compression, I prefer the 2XU socks.  It may seem petty, but Pro Compression offers more colors, and I just like neon running gear.  2XU offers bland non colors of black or white.  My issue with the PC socks are that they are too tall!  The socks would cover up through the bottom portion of my knee.  I'm 5"11 so I was a little surprised by this.  2XU comes right up to my knee which is how it should be.  I rolled them down a little bit but that makes the top of the socks, right below my knee, feel a little awkward.

Race update:

14 days until Chi-town Half Marathon
30 days until Goofy Challenge Race Registration (rumor, no detail from RunDisney)
48 days until Illinois Marathon in Champaign-Urbana
76 days until Soldier Field 10-mile
133 days until Rock-n-Roll Chicago Half-marathon #rnrchi
217 days until Chicago Marathon