A clydesdale no more!

Uneventful general aerobic run.  Ran a few striders at the end.  Everything feels good.

Total Time: 50:15 (7:11/mile)

Nice, leisurely run.  Perfect weather today so I just enjoyed being outside.  My Garmin appears to be dead so I have no idea what the pace was.  Don't know what I am going to do about the Garmin.  I have some aches and pains in my joints.  A storm must be coming in.

A cold, windy and rainy recovery run.  

Started typing how I was going to take today off because I have to shift my schedule around since I am running the SL Running Co. 5k on Saturday.  It didn't feel right so I headed out and did the easy 5.  It was cold and there was a layer of snow on my front yard so I had to dig out the winter running clothes.  Light snowfall to start that turned into a blizzard by the end of the run.  It stopped snowing as I finished the run.  This week seems too easy.  I know I need to trust the plan but I wonder if a 2 week taper would be better for me.

I really had to talk myself into running this morning.  I did not want to go.  I decided that I would let the scale make the decision for me.  Unfortunately, my weight was 2 pounds higher than I wanted it to be so I had to run.  The run wasn't too bad once I warmed up. 

The Salt Lake Running Co. offered a free 5k as part of the grand opening of their new store.  Pfitz had a race on the schedule for today so I signed up for it.  I have been doing more speedwork lately and I am in the middle of the taper so I was hoping for a good race.  The course was almost perfectly flat.  The weather was 40 degrees with a light rain.  Everything was lining up for a fast race.  Warmed up by running the course plus a little.  As we lined up there were only 2 guys that looked very fast.  One was Jeremy Holt who I have run with a lot and knew we were close in fitness level.  He said he only wanted to run 6:30 pace for a tempo run but I knew better.  We started and another runner and I were immediately in the lead.  I was running very comfortable and the pace felt really good.  We were behind police escort and I couldn't help but think of Teena and her run behind the police escorts in Boston.  After 1/2 mile, Jeremy pulled up along side of us and the 3 of us were running side by side.  Kind of fun to be running in a group behind the police escort.  I was amazed at how easy the pace felt.  It even felt a little slow but I intentionally held back.  My stomach was bothering me but everything else was perfect.  I started to notice that I run with very tense shoulders.  I focused on relaxing them and the pace came easier.  Hit the first mile in 5:56.  The other guy started to drift back a little after 1.25 miles so it was just Jeremy and me.  At the turnaround, I noticed that my pace was starting to slip.  Tried to focus on relaxing but it didn't seem to help.  Jeremy put about 10 yards on me and I couldn't respond.  My legs felt great and my breathing wasn't labored.  I just couldn't shift into a higher gear.  Mile 2 came in at 6:05.  Mile 3 was much of the same.  I felt fine but the pace continued to slip and Jeremy continued to gap me.  Mile 3 was 6:10 and the last 0.1 was at 5:39 pace for a final time of 18:48.  Overall not a great performance but on the bright side I felt great and think I could have held 6:10 pace for quite awhile.  I have no explanation as to why I could not shift into a higher gear but I am happy with how easy the pace felt.  The fitness is there, I just need to be more race ready.  Finished the day with another 2.7 miles.