Cool Runnings!

Ran 6.0 miles this morning.  Was planning on running 7, with an original plan this week of running 7-8-7-8-7-8, but I realized during my run that would put me at 45 miles for the week, and that is too much of a jump in mileage.  Decided instead to do something like 6-7-6-7-6-7, which would put me at 39 for the week, but I will probably put in an additional mile or two on Saturday to get me above 40.  Also decided that I will be Lybi's cheering section for the 5K on July 4 so that I can continue training and put in some good miles instead of running a hard 5K.

Ran 7 miles this morning at a good pace.  Average was somewhere around 8:20/mile.  Decided to spice things up on a couple of the miles to break up the monotony - ran miles 2 and 4 around 8:00 pace, also finished strong.  Felt good on this run.  Not much else to say - looking forward to increasing my mileage to continue to build up my aerobic base.

Ran 6.25 miles on the treadmill this evening.  It was kind of late and I didn't want to run outside, because it was still pretty hot. Started off at 7 mph at 1.0 incline as a warmup, felt good, felt nice and easy.  Decided that I would put in a tempo run to break up the monotony of the treadmill, after 1 mile, I increased the pace to 8 mph (7:30/mile).  Ran 4.5 miles at that pace, still felt relaxed and fairly easy.  I was able to keep my regular breathing rhythm throughout, which suggests that my CV fitness has definiely improved.  Ran the last 1/2 mile of the tempo at 9 mph (6:40 pace), that felt a bit more difficult.  Cooled down back at 7 mph for 1/4 mile, then was done.  Going to take it easy the next couple of days and then get in a 10-12 mile run on Saturday.

Ran 5.0 miles outside this evening at 9:00.  Temperature was still around 100 degrees.  Warmed up the first mile, then ran two miles at approx. MP (7:38, 7:28).  It felt harder than yesterday, I attribute that to the heat.  Slowed down a bit the 4th mile (7:58), ran the last mile in 8:23.  Although I felt good, the weather has now gotten to the point where I hate running outside in the evening.  And monsoon season will start in a few weeks, which means the humidity will be creeping up.  Not looking forward to that.  I really need to commit to getting to bed on time so that I can run in the morning, no exceptions.

Ran 5.0 miles this evening on the treadmill.  Nice easy pace - 7 mph (8:34/mile) at incline of 1.0 the entire time.  Will be putting in a long run tomorrow morning, so I wanted to take it easy.

Ran 12.0 miles this morning!  I had set my alarm for 4:00, but when my wife woke me up at 5:45, I realized I had forgotten that it was only set to go off on the weekdays.  Got up and ran 6 miles outside, with a quick stop at the store for some gel, as I had not had time to eat anything.  Took one gel with some water, then continued.  After 6 miles outside, it was getting too hot, so I came back inside, had some gatorade and the second gel, then finished my run on the treadmill.  I didn't really like doing this, but it beats getting heat exhaustion, which I am prone to.  Outside run was 49:53, average pace of 8:18/mile.  I was feeling pretty good during this part of the run, although the faster pace was also partly due to the sighting of a loose dog on the street.  Hit the treadmill, and averaged a steady 8:34/mile, total time of 51:24.  Total time for the run was 1:41:17, average pace of 8:26/mile.  This run felt good.  I felt like I could have easily run further without any issue - this is encouraging to me.  This gets me above 40 miles for the week.  My plan for next week right now is to have a shorter long run - 7 miles on the weekdays and 10 miles on Saturday.  This will put me at 45 miles for the week.

Afternoon - rode my bike about 5 miles to the auto shop to pick up our minivan, which had to have the tranny fluid flushed.  I won't count any miles here, but it definitely counted as additional exercise.