Fast Running Soldier

So after a sporadic week last week with redeployment and moving from Afghanistan to Kyrgyzstan and now FINALLY to Italy I should be back on track. 

Today was my first run back and it went surprisingly well. I averaged a 7:17 pace and 166 BPM. My splits were as follows:

7:32   7:23   7:24   7:15   7:15   7:25  7:17   6:55 

Had to settle for the treadmill again...rainy day today and I still haven't figured out a good route to take in our area. The roads aren't the best for running here...no sidewalks...

Todays run was pretty good. I was able to run outside again around downtown Vicenza. It is a beautiful city and the home of Andrea Palladio. He invented the Palladium windows and designed the villa that Thomas Jefferson used to design his summer home, Monticello. This is a really cool town!

 Splits: 7:57   7:36   7:30   7:35   7:28   7:19   7:20   6:50 = 7:25average

Today's run was good. I wanted to keep it slow, plus I am a little sore. I can feel a difference between treadmill running and running outside. I averaged a 7:52 pace, but I think it was faster than that. I had to stop a bunch going around some round-a-bouts and turning down a wrong street. I did 6.37 outside and thought it was going to rain, so I cut my run short then came back on post and went to the gym and did the rest on the treadmill. 

7:55   7:48   8:17 (uphill on cobblestone)   7:49   7:56   7:31 <--outside miles

8:00   8:00  <---on treadmill plus   .30 cool down 

Today was a nice run out here by our house in Camisano Vicentino. I found a pretty nice loop that takes me about 8 miles. I got lost only once, so that may have made up for a slower mile at mile 6. I averaged a 7:15 pace, but most of that was because of the last two miles. I also averaged 165BPM. And if it wasn't for the 6th mile, I would have hit negative splits the whole time...

7:48   7:28   7:20   7:16   7:16  7:21   6:58   6:38 

Long run today. I felt pretty good, a little sore from yesterday and this week (running outside is definitely different from on a treadmill), but other than that the run felt okay. I tried to keep my pace slower which isn't easy for me. It seems that my body is most comfortable with about a 7:30-7:15 pace, so I have to make a conscious effort to keep it slow. The course that I made today had 3 really steep hills and a couple little rolling ones so that affected my time from mile 4-7. I was proud of my splits the last 4 miles though. I was glad to see that I had the energy and determination to hit those times after already running 8 miles. 

8:05   7:53   7:49   8:01   8:25   8:47   8:11   8:08   7:49   7:36   7:36   7:32 = 7:59 average and

158BPM