The Two-Part Long Run

A fellow (probably more legitimate, and slightly more serious) runner whom I follow on Twitter (you can hit Scott from iRunnerBlog up here) introduced me to the idea of the short long run. Long story short, you take the distance you're to run that day, divide that distance by two, and run twice in a 24 hour period. So yesterday, instead of running ten miles at once, I split it up into two five-milers and ran twice. I feel that a pro/con list is the best for this situation. I love pro/con lists, and I especially love t-charts, but they're complicated to do in this posting thingy, so list it is.

PROS:

• It made dreadmill running far more bearable.
• I will say, dreadmills have an advantage over outdoor running in that I can mimic the elevation of the course with the push of a button and run something as similar to the course as I can get without being there.
• And there are TV's on every dreadmill. The Real Housewives kept me company yesterday.
• And I can keep my water, gatorade, fruit strips, and an actual bathroom nearby at all times.
• This needs no further explanation.
• The little twinge thing behind my knee didn't bother me at all. 
• I like anything involved with running that doesn't cause me pain.
• Being able to refuel properly between runs really made the last half easier for my body to handle. I've been having problems with having enough energy to finish strong recently, but yesterday wasn't a problem. 
• I've also got my run-walk-run ratio down properly.
• Wahoo!
• I went to the gym twice yesterday. It made me feel like a BAMF.

CONS:

• The blisters that developed in my first run made the second unbearably painful. I made it through two miles of the second and then hopped on the elliptical, cranked the incline/height up to 20 and the resistance up to 10, and finished the last three looking like a freaking ninja. People were looking at me like I was crazy, but honestly, even then I wasn't out of breath or sweating very much. It made me feel really conditioned, and for the first time in a while I felt in shape. It felt nice.
• The maximum for both is 20.
• I wore bad socks, so the blisters were totally my fault. Still though. It SUCKED.
• I'm not one to complain about pain, but I'll complain about blisters.
• I tried molefoam and band-aid blister protection things, but they slipped off... Any suggestions?
• Yeah, that was the only con.

So basically, I'm gonna be using this two-part method for the one long run I have left before my half and for all of the long runs I can for my full. Less exciting is the fact that my long runs for my full will be divided up into two parts that are each as long as two of my shorter long runs. But I can, I will, I am able.... I think.