Running Redhead

Ran later in the day than normal today. Had to slow myself down a bit in the early miles. Weirdest thing: My left calf wanted to cramp up, but I wasn't feeling fatigued and I wasn't cramping anywhere else. Had some gatorade with me and that seemed to head off a full cramp. So I finished the run. Last four miles were no more than eight minutes per mile. Overall average pace was 8:13 including a few pauses at intersections. Quite happy with this run, although I want to make sure I can run fewer and faster as well.

Rest day for me, but Erin did three miles on the bike path with three surges at 5K pace. Go Gorgeous!

A little ragged today, but I feel like I adjusted well. The plan was 2x3 miles, but I switched it to 3 x 2 miles. Warm temps, not too humid. Ran on rolling hills and it seems like the hills take more out of me or slow the pace more than I would expect. First two-mile interval was 13:38 with even pacing. Second interval was the most challenging. I had to slow and even stop at an intersection, so the first mile was slow at 7:07, but I came back with a 6:40 for a good overall split of 13:47. Third interval was the best, but also a slight down hill I think for 1.75 miles. Split for the third interval was 13:25 with a nice finish of 6:35.

My upcoming 10K has a monster hill for mile three (yes, all of mile three apparently), so it will be a tactical, mental and physical challenge. I'm hoping to get halfway in 20:30 and finish under 42. I need to pace myself on the hill without losing too much time. I don't suppose anybody on here is in Western Mass and going to run the Bridge of Flowers race?!

Nice and easy five miles on the bike path today. Legs were a bit tight, but loosened up by the end of the run. Good stretch when I got home. This will be my highest sustained mileage ever, so I think my body is adapting.

My gorgeous bride ran 2.7 at 10:21 per mile pace in the heat and humidity of late afternoon on the bike path.

I was kicking myself when I started my warm-up this afternoon for not getting out earlier today before it warmed up and the humidity hit. However, there was a breeze, so it turned out to be reasonable. I set up an interval workout on the Garmin for mile repeats so I could run on the bike path instead of the track. A little bit closer to race conditions. In any case, the interval workout really keeps you honest on the recovery times. I did 5 x one mile with two minute recovery slow jogs.

I discovered that in the interval mode I set you can't see your pace, just the distance remaining. So I ended up running the first mile significantly faster than I had planned, and that changed things up a bit. I wanted to run the first two at 10K race pace, the third at 5K pace to simulate a hill on the course and then hold the last two at slightly faster than race pace. Because I took the first one out too hard I decided to run the first two fast and see if I could finish the last three at 10K pace. My splits ended up being 6:18 (Yikes!), 6:29 (more reasonable), 6:44(right on!), 6:53 (a little slow), and finished with a 6:42 (perfect). So except for mile four I was very happy. I think the first two at faster than 5K pace probably simulated the big hill in mile three pretty well. The last three miles are downhill, so I just need to keep close to pace by halfway and finish strong. The heat, humidity and breeze made for a realistic challenge. Pretty winded at the end of five, but legs felt strong. Two more full training weeks and a taper to go.

Muggy summertime has finally hit New England. I did 4.5 slow recovery miles after Thursday's mile intervals. I just bought Jack Daniel's Running Formula Book. On first glance it seems like I may be running long runs a bit fast. I also wonder if Daniels considers mile intervals at 10K pace to be speedwork that shouldn't exceed eight percent of weekly mileage. I suppose that's another arguement for raising weekly mileage totals to 60.

Moved onto the track for part of the run today to get a softer surface. No dirt trails around to use. I included 4 x 100m strides into the run to loosen up the hamstrings. Long one tomorrow.