M'kay

LM warmup, 2 miles in 15:24, 7:42/mi, HR 147 with 0.5 mile 10K effort.  10K race in 38:22, 7:11/mi, HR 168.  2 mile cooldown in 17:07, 8:33/mi, HR 130.

Cool morning and foggy (~48F).  Race started at 8:30, so a 5:45 wakeup and 1 hr drive to the race.  Uneventful warmup.  Race goals were to PR on this flat course, and try to get under 38:00.  Lined up in the front, and noticed at least 2 really fast-looking runners in the area.  Turns out there were 3.  On-time start, and I went to about 8th right out of the gate.  Had a bit of a fast start, but not as bad as some.  Got passed by one more runner after the start (about 0.5 miles in), but I reeled him in before too long and wound up passing a few more, so I'd say my start was good.

Garmin splits were 6:07, 6:12, 6:08, 6:06, 6:17, 6:01, & 1:28 for a garmin distance of 6.27.  The slow miles were on the Chehalis Western Trail, which it turns out at this time of year, it completely covered in leaves for most of the length we ran.  Not too slippery, but traction wasn't ideal.  Reeled in a couple of runners in the first mile or so, another on mile 2, a third on mile 3, and the last one late in the 6th mile.  The last one to real in was the hardest, but the one I worked hardest at....I really didn't want to get beat by a guy 16 years older than me!  Fortunately, I managed to suffer a bit more towards the end, and got him by about 10 seconds.

Felt pretty decent all things considered throughout the race.  Breathing was pretty well controlled for the first 3 miles, then went to just hard for the next 2.5.  Only the last 0.7 was it really starting to feel stressed, and that's about when my form really wanted to come apart (but didn't)!

So, happy to get the PR.  Wished I could've gone under 38, but that leaves a nice juicy goal for my next 10K.  The next fastest runner was the 3rd place guy in 35:20, so I've got quite a bit of work to catch him :).  Now, only a nice sunny day where I get to fix my fence that took a hit from a tree knocked down by the winds last Friday.

LM warmup, 6 miles in 45:09, 7:31/mi, HR 154, w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints. 1.5 mile cooldown walk w/ dogs with 1/4 mile jog. Stretching.

Beautiful day.  Sunny and mid 50s.  Feel pretty good from yesterday's race.  Legs got a bit tired on the hill sprints, but could be that I moved from 12 x 10s to 12 x 12s.  In any event, slowed me down a tad on the return but still felt really good.  Hope I didn't overdo things for tomorrow, but this has been a really good stretch of training and racing, so I'll just try to enjoy it.

LM warmup, 10 miles in 1:13:13, 7:19/mi, HR 158, 1 mile cooldown walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Another beautiful day (56F).  Legs just wanted to go today.  Even with the faster pace, breathing was well under control and effort easy.  Legs started feeling the effort about 7 miles in but not too badly (just striding out more than normal) and it felt good the whole time.  Even the last uphill mile felt really good and I wound up accelerating into that one more than I'd intended.  Just one of those days that feels great to run.

LM warmup, 6 miles in 45:47, 7:37/mi, HR 153, w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints at mile 3 hill, 1.5 mile cooldown walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Felt pretty good today.  After the hill repeats, legs were pretty dead, but managed to carry me home.  All of yesterday's mysterious post-run foot and leg pain that cropped up a few hours after a glorious run seems to have disappeared.

LM warmup, 10 miles in 1:10:19, 7:01/mi, HR 160, with 6 tempo miles in 6:43 (up), 7:04 (up), 7:16 (up), 6:09 (down), 6:11 (down), 6:08 (down), 6:35/mi average. 

Managed to get started during a bad patch of weather with gusty winds and slashing rain.  Yippee.  Wind was worse going uphill (of course) and I had some mental motivational issues with this run.  Wound up taking 2 15 sec pauses, one at the 2 mile mark and a second at the 3 mile mark.  I don't feel too badly about taking them, since the weather was really beating me up and making things miserable, but on the downhill return, I got my focus back and really pushed to not fall off-pace to make up for it.  Surprised that the average pace was so close to flat HM pace (6:31/mi) once I got to the tallying stage.  Couldn't bring myself to go back out for a walk w/ the dogs today (although the rain stopped during my 2 cooldown miles).

LM warmup, 4 miles in 30:18, 7:34/mi, HR 147, 2 mile cooldown walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunch 3-stage ladder & stretching.

Waited for a break in the rain and rewarded with some sun (47F).  Somewhat (pleasantly) surprised at the pace today....didn't look at the watch until Garmin downloaded the workout and after a gentle 1st mile, everything was pretty quick for easy.  Felt pretty good throughout too.  Hope that holds for the 15 miler tomorrow.