7.2 miles in the morning 8.2 miles this afternoon Morning run was just a nice icebreaker for the week. I felt nice and rested and just took it slow up to the power line then down into Green Spring and back around to the house. Afternoon run I decided to run kind of a time trial on my water tank via industrial park loop. I wanted to get mile splits and use this as a building block for the rest of the year. Goal was to run it as hard as possible and set a benchmark to race against every week. The first 2.5 miles are uphill on a sandy trail. Then from 2.5 to 3.5 half of it is pretty level and the other half is a mother of a hill up to the water tank. So after 3.5 you’re on roads but that first few aren't easy at all. 1. 8:06 (up, up and away also slow down to cross a fence) 2. 7:24 (mostly uphill but some flat sections- all sand) 3. 6:51 (More sand and hills then a flat section) 4. 7:05 (Flat at first- but rocky- then the step rocky hill and now on the paved road) 5. 6:00 (on the road trying to get some faster turnover) 6. 5:25 (some downhill but sure doesn’t feel that fast) 7. 5:37 (half downhill and half flat-hope to hold this pace until the end) 8. 5:46 (flat and uphill-good mile for me because it felt like 6:30 and I was way surprised to see how fast it really was) .2- 5:40 pace to finish the last couple streets Overall- not bad. Finished with a time of 53:14 and an overall pace of 6:31. If in a few months I can bring that overall pace down to 6:20 I'll be a runner who means business. The effort on the first 3 to 4 miles was around 6:00 pace although the times don't reflect it. Just a tough part of the course. If I can make myself run this once a week and run it hard it will be fun to see any progression. | 