Running Redhead

Had to cut short my tempor run on the treadmill. Only a couple of miles at 6:58 pace. Definitely a backing off week.

Real easy pace middle of the week. Felt light and tempting to unleash.

Ripped through 10 quarters on the track yesterday. 1:36, 1:36, 1:37, 1:35,1:35, 1:34, 1:38, 1:34, 1:35, 1:34 Nice weather. I definitely enjoy running fast. 200 meter jog recovery. Based on running quarters I can tell that I have the speed to break 40 minutes in a 10K, but I need to be able to maintain speed over the entire distance. I think having the Garmin will help, but maybe also running races with more participants. I've mostly done small local road races where there aren't many people at the same pace, so it's a huge mental game. I never lost a relay lead in high school, so maybe I need to use that competitiveness to my advantage to push for pr's in my next runs.

Medium long run today, getting back into some significant mileage Sunday runs. I'm still working on trying to maintain an even pace on even terrain. Average for the run was 8:06 per mile with a couple walking breaks for hydration because I didn't have my camelback. I don't know if anybody else uses them, but I find mine invaluable. I can rehydrate without slowing.

I found that when I looked at the Garmin sometimes I was faster than I thought and sometimes slower. Perhaps it's a quirk with the watch rather than an actual change in my pace. In any case, the overall average was a bit faster than I expected, but the pacing felt pretty comfortable, so I went with it. I guess that's the benefit of the cut-back in mileage last week.

I did an icebath for the legs after the run because the distance was longer than I've done in a while and it was pretty hot out. I highly recommend it. Takes some willpower to get in at first, but about 20 minutes with a mixture of cold tapwater and some ice cubes feels great afterwards. You feel like running another 12.

Tempo run on the treadmill. Had to cut the warm-up and cooldown a bit short unfortunately. Set the pace at 6:58 for a 3.5 mile tempo run. The treadmill keeps you exactly honest on the pacing, but it feels so much harder than running on the road. Not much trouble maintaining that pace for the entire run. Looking to add some mileage at that pace and some aerobic miles the rest of this week.

Had to wait until pretty late, but did five miles on the bike path in 38:25. Easy pace in between two quality workouts. I'm wondering if I'm going too fast on the aerobic miles like these, but I think the need to stay slow is more important for folks with higher mileage and more years under the belt than I have. I guess we'll see how I feel on the 1000s for Thursday's workout.

Fantastic speed workout today. It was cool and overcast. I ran 5 x 1000m on the track at 6:24 per mile pace. My pacing was perfect. I usually start the first 200 too fast, but I ran steady with each 200m around 48 seconds. Splits were 4:01, 3:59, 3:58, 4:01, 3:56. Cooled down for a little over a mile.

Cruised through a 10k general aerobic run today over rolling hills. Just let the contours take me along for the ride. Turns out my natural pace seems to be about 7:50 per mile for these types of runs. I have to force myself to slow down for longer runs or recovery runs. From what I've read, I may even be going to fast for aerobic mileage. Macmillan's pace calculator suggests a slower pacing, but it's hard to determine what type of workout he has in mind for each pace when it's not speed or a true "long run."

In any case, my legs feel fresh and ready for a longer distance tomorrow.

Cool and drizzly day for a long run. Cruised through 11.5 miles on a fairly flat out and back course. I kept the pace moderate at 8:13 min/mile, although Macmillan recommends slower for long runs I think. Still on pace for my 10k in August I hope. The effort felt very comfortable and the legs seemed to go onto autopilot. It's always nice through the last quarter of a run to be looking forward to the next run/workout.

The batteries on my Garmin were low, but I'm pretty sure I covered about four miles for a tempo run in 28 minutes. Two miles slow for warmup and two miles for cool down. The tempo pace felt great and my legs didn't want to stop after 28 minutes. I hope the mileage/pacing was accurate. Rolling hills, so the effort level changed a bit over the course, but I tried to even out pace and effort for the entire 28 minutes. Weather was great, 70s and sunny. Slight breeze to cool me off.

Brilliant weather again today. Recovery run from the LT day Tuesday. A little longer than I wanted, but I was able to slow the pace without sacrificing form I think. Covered seven miles in 8:30 miles. Legs felt a bit sore from yesterday at the beginning of the run, but feel better now. We'll see how they're doing tomorrow for some speed work.

Pouring rain forced me inside to the treadmill again. I really prefer the track, but so it goes. Workout was 5x1000m at 6:22/mile pace. Recovery interval was 400 meters. Fairly loose but breathing pretty hard by the last two intervals.

General aerobic run on the bike path.

Quite humid to start, but there was a breeze that kicked up during the run. I loosened up from rock climbing the day before and felt stronger the farther I ran. Some rolling hills that make for nice variety, but nothing taxing. I guess this is medium-long run distance. I know I need the endurance/aerobic base, but I feel like I already can run at this pace for long distances, but I want to run at a faster pace for 10K. The average pace was 8:18, but I negative split on an out and back course.

Tried to maintain a pace of 6:55 per mile for a 30-minute lactate threshold run. Splits were 6:47, 6:56 (right on), 7:01 and 6:50. Difficult to hold to an exact pace over hills, curves and intersections. Overall the training stimulus seemed about right though. I don't think I'm going too fast and accumulating acid. I'm not sure if I could hold that pace for an hour. Unfortunately I've never run a 15K race, and I don't have a recent half-marathon time to set a pace off. The pace felt comfortably hard though.

Two miles of warm-up and about the same cool-down. I'm fully recovered by the end of the cool-down so, I'm happy with the workout. Legs and lungs felt good without strain.

Very relaxed recovery run after yesterday's tempo run. Five flat miles around 8:20 per mile. Going to add a sixth day of running this week, so I'm trying to pay close attention to the recovery from the two hard workouts.

Tough workout today in the heat and humidity. Warmed up with a couple miles on the track. Then 3xmile repeates. First one five seconds off 10K goal pace, then the next one was right at goal pace (two seconds faster) and the final repeat was seven seconds faster than goal pace. Finished with 2 x 800 at 5K race pace. First one a bit slow at 3:19 and second one a bit fast at 3:12. Recovery interval was 400 meter jog. Had to walk a bit before each 800, breathing hard.

Nice and easy five aerobic miles at 8:01 per mile.

Cutting back on the mileage this week. Dropped the long run down to 11 miles on an out-and-back course with some small rolling hills. I'm going to skip the tempo run on Tuesday and just do some aerobic miles. I was hoping to run a 5K to gauge the fitness level Sunday, but it didn't happen, so I will do a time trial Thursday instead. This will be the last cutback week before the final push for the Bridge of Flowers race.

Nice aerobic run for a little over six miles.