Running Redhead

Steady eight mile run along rolling hills Sunday morning. Cool temperatures. Legs a little tight in calves and right abductor loosened up over first three miles. 68 minutes for about 8:30 miles. Negative split with strong finish.

Great runner's high today! It was 70 and sunny with a little headwind. Warmed up with two miles and then did three miles tempo run at 6:55 per mile. It's hard to know the right pace for me for a tempo run right now. I've heard that it is the pace you could hold for an hour. I'm not sure I could hold 6:55 for an hour; it felt hard but not gasping for air difficult. I was breathing hard after the planned three miles but recovered my wind quickly during the cooldown (1.5 miles). No tightness in the legs anywhere and a great endorphin rush at the end of the run.

I'm training for a 10K at the beginning of August and planning to build up to about a 4.5 mile tempo run, long run of 12-15 miles and about 40 miles per week before tapering into the race. The goal is 42 minutes. Did a 5K in 20:06, but this will be my first 10K race.

A flat aerobic run today of a little over five miles. Probably around 8:20 per mile. I'm excited to get my Garmin so I can measure pace on the road a little more accurately. It's funny how it always seems like a struggle at about 2/3 of the way through a run when I'm doing even pacing/slow miles but I feel totally fresh at the end. I guess it's just a matter of running more miles.

Hot today! It was 90 degrees but the humidity wasn't too bad. Some wind to cool off, but the wind helped raise the heart rate. Did 5 x 800m with the first three on the track and the next two on grass. About 3:15 splits for each interval with a 200m jog in between. I ended up quite winded but the legs felt great.

First run with my new Garmin GPS. According to the device, my five mile course is actually about 5.5 miles. I also discovered that my pacing is a bit faster than I expected and a bit more variable than I thought. The Garmin says I ranged from about a 6:00/mile pace to around 8:20. I tried to keep the pace around eight minute miles. Looking forward to using the Garmin to get a better idea of pacing on the road in the future. Legs and lungs felt great today in about 70 degrees partly cloudy conditions. Overall pace on the Garmin was 7:38. I thought I was doing five iles in 8:20s on that course . . .