faster with age

     Easy 8 mi at 8:48 AP

     Went 11 miles today with 2 miles of warm up then 9 miles tempo. Went up to the gravel road that I used last week where I could find more dry patches to run on. I still had to keep criss crossing the road to avoid as much of the snow and ice as possible. some small stretches I just had to run on the snow. I started out at 7:39, 7:18, and 6:52. I took a short break at the jeep and took of my sweatshirt. next 4 miles at 6:41 AP. 5 min break and then another 4 miles at 6:41 AP. I averaged 6:42 for the 9 miles of tempo and 6:51 for all 11. Just like last week this felt harder than I expected. I was planning to run the last 4 a little faster but just couldn't do it. The fact that it was 9 deg probably didn't help.

     8 mile slow recovery run. 8:55 AP

     This morning was like a heat wave at 18 deg. I ran 10 miles. Averaged 8:09 for the first 4 miles and 7:46 pace for the next 6. The roads are getting more and more dry spots but still running on some snow [about 10 %]. 7:55 overall pace.

     6 miles. 8:52 AP

     I think today was the warmest it has been all winter at 37 deg. I ran 12 miles starting with an 8:40 first mile and averaging 8:22 for the first 6 miles. Then for the 6 miles coming back I threw in some fartlek running 5x1/4 miles and 2x1/2 miles at anywhere from 6:05 to 6:25 pace with recoveries from 1/4 to 1/2 mile between. Average pace for the last 6 was 7:21. Overall ave pace for 12 miles was 7:52.