faster with age

     Perfect weather this morning. I went 8 miles up to the reservoir. I ran the first 4 at 8:02 pace and the last 4 at 6:52 pace starting with a 7:12 mile and finishing with a 6:22 mile that felt way harder than it should. Overall pace for 8 was 7:27

     PM  6 easy miles.

     I only found time for 10 miles on the mt bike this morning. I grow landscaping trees and spent the day digging a bunch of them.  It was past 9 PM when we were finished and I was worn out so I bagged the run.

     Ran 10 miles this morning. First double digit run in a long time. I didn't have a lot of energy this morning. Must not be recovered from Mondays run yet. 8:22 pace.

     PM 3 more easy miles.

      AM    20 miles offroad mt bike ride.

     Started having some pain in my right knee Wed night. I don't think it was caused by running because it dosen't hurt when I run. It hurts right under the knee cap when I straighten it completely as though it was hyper extended. I just rode my bike yesterday and skipped the run. This morning it was the worst it had been and felt a bit swollen when I first got up and still hurt when I straighten it but it felt better after walking around a bit.Lter in the day I tried running and felt 0 pain so I went for 5 miles including a mile downhill at 7:12 pace then ran back up hard. It climbs about 300 feet in 1 mile and I ran it in 7:51 into about a 7 MPH wind. That's just the second time I have run that hill under 8 min. My knee felt fine but I kept the run short at 5 miles just to be safe. It is still only sore if I straighten it completely. I'll see how it feels tomorrow.  Overall pace 7:56.

My knee was sore again this morning but much better than yesterday. It didn't have the swollen feeling but still hurt to straighten completely. So I figured yesterdays run didn't hurt it any. I ran 5 miles then changed into my Vibram Five Fingers [My wife got for my birthday] and ran a mile. This was just the fourth time I have run 1 mile in them but I must be getting used to them in a hurry. My first couple of runs I felt like 9:00 pace was about all I wanted to do. Today I wasn't paying attention to pace until near the end and was supprised to see I was at 7:44 pace and I felt like going a few more but decided to keep it at one mile for now. I must heel strike pretty bad because the heals of my running shoes always wear through quite quickly. I hope by gradually building up some mileage in these might help me with that as well as strengthen against injury. They sure make you stride different and feel exactly like barefoot without feeling the small things that stick my tender feet. I swiched to some racing flats and ran the next mile in 6:35 then one more to cooldown. Overall pace for 8 miles was 8:09.