Easy run with 2 hill sprints. Average pace: 10:48/mile. Hill sprint #1: 10.15 sec @ 6:48/mile. Hill sprint #2: 9.8 sec. @ 6:44/mile.
Weather at 5:35 am: 37°F, 53% humidity, winds 5.8 mph NNE.
I didn't manage to get up as early as I had intended, but I did get the run in, do my conference call, and get the kids to school in time for Donuts with Dad (shame on me - I ate a donut). I showered and was dressed but not completely ready before the conference call, ate breakfast during the conference call, and then finished getting ready after the call because it only went 1/2 hour instead of the hour it was scheduled for.
This is the first time I've done hill sprints in the dark. I've always been out a little later in the morning on days I've done hill sprints, I guess. So it was a little more guesswork about how far up the hill to run because, though I had the headlamp, I couldn't see all that well.
I've decided that it's not the face covering that makes me run slower some days. Some days I'm just more tired or something and just run slower. Today was one of those days. I've had kind of a high mileage week and yesterday was a rough day. At this point I'm thinking that maybe I should do 14 instead of 16 tomorrow. The "official" training plan says 14, but when I customized it for myself I bumped it up to 16 because I've done 14 the last couple of Saturdays. But my weekday mileage is higher this week than previous weeks and higher than it would be with the "official" training plan because I did 5 miles on a day that was supposed to be a rest or cross-training day. | 