A clydesdale no more!

Felt really good this morning right from the get go.  Right ankle and achilles felt good and left hamstring wasn't bothering me.  First time in a long time that I was able to run without a little leg pain somewhere.  Started out at 7:50 pace and gradually sped up to 7:00 pace.  Pace felt very comfortable.  I got a ton of sleep on Saturday (kids were away and I had an excuse for being lazy) which I think is why I felt so good.

It was windy and warmer than I expected so I was overdressed.  Warmed up with 3 easy miles then ran 3 miles at tempo pace.  I had a really hard time hitting the pace I wanted.  I even had the aid of a tail wind and still ran too slow.  First 2 miles were 6:35 and 6:27.  Turned into the wind on the 3rd mile and also had the overpass.  Ran it in 6:48 and knew I was done when I saw the split.  It took a lot more work than it should have.  Finished with 2 more easy miles too cool down.

Nice and easy miles.  I allowed negative emotions affect the way I felt physically.  I need to work on that.

Ran from home up to the mouth of Mueller Park canyon then back again.  Going up was much more work than expected.  I really need to add this as one of my weekly runs again.  I wanted to work on my turnover so I pushed the pace on the way down.  Forgot how important the arms are when running down hill.  Felt good for the first 2 downhill miles but then started to get a little slappy towards the end as my legs fatigued.

A nice uneventful run.  At mile 6 I stepped on an uneven section of sidewalk wrong and reaggravated the pain in my right ankle.  I guess 4 days of it feeling good was enough.  

Started with 7 miles before the club run.  Ran the club's out and back course on Davis Blvd.  On the way back I saw Kathie ahead and tried to catch her but she was too fast.  Ran the course again with Jim so the pace was a little quicker.  Felt really good on the way out but started to feel it on the way back.  The hills were killing me.  Averaged 20 seconds per mile faster the second time because I had somebody there to push me.  The last half mile is downhill and I felt great on that section.  This indicates that I really need to work on my uphill running fitness.