faster with age

     Ran 8 miles this morning easy then 20 Mt Bike hard. 8:45 pace on the run. I averaged 16 mph for the 20 miles on the bike. 13 miles of it on dirt road with several big hills. When I haven't been riding my bike a lot, I have a hard time getting my heart rate up even though the slower pace might feel hard. This morning my HR averaged 137 with a 156 max on one of the hills. A run at a comparable effort would have probably had me averaging in the 150s with a max in the 170s. After I'm in better bike shape it's easier to get my heart rate higher and my speed gos up along with it. When I'm in poor running shape it seems like my HR goes up even when the pace is slower.

     9 easy miles up around the reservoir this morning. I think I was feeling a little fatigue from yesterdays ride. 8:36 AP.

     I wasn't able to get out early this morning so I missed the cool hours. It was 72 deg when I started and 80 at the end. I ran a 2 mile warmup at 8:07 pace then down and up the 1 mile highway hill twice. I normally run the harder effort on the uphill. This morning I decided to run the downhill harder. I ran the  first mile downhill in 5:40, back up in 8:27, second downhill 5:36, back up in 8:17. Running the uphill in under 8:30 isn't exactly easy but it's probably not quite MP either. Then I ran 2x1/2 miles and 1x1/4 mile with 1/2 slow recovery. The halfs were 2:54 and 2:59 and 1/4 in 1:21. Final 1/2 at 7:06 pace. I felt good early in the run but got feeling more beat at the end than I expected. I think the hills took more out of me than I expected. Overall though felt like a good workout. Overall pace for 9 miles was 7:17.

     I was up at 5 am but didn't have a chance to run until after 10 pm. The moon was nice and full and the temp had dropped to 64 so it made for a nice run. I just took it real slow and enjoyed except that my wife and I had just returned from eating out and my very full stomach was a bit annoying. 5 miles at 9:22 AP

     9 miles at 8:28 pace. did a few striders the last 2 miles.

     18 mile progression run this morning. My alarm didn't go off this morning and I didn't wake up until almost 6. Got out the door at 6:30 and felt slow. First 4 miles I averaged just under 8:30 pace. Next 2 miles at 8:04 and started feeling good. Miles 7-10 averaged 7:41. Miles 11-14 averaged 7:21. Last 4 averaged 6:54 pace. Nice morning for a run. 47 deg to start and just under 70 to finish. Big temperature range for one run. I saw deer [including a doe with 2 very new fawns], lots of ducks, a pheasant, hungarian partridge, a wild turkey, a blow snake, a run over rattle snake, a lizard, and 0 vehicles [except for one fisherman camped at the reservoir].  I felt pretty good on this run but sure wouldn't have wanted to run another 8 miles and especially can't imagine doing the whole 26 averaging 50 second/mile faster pace than I ran this morning. Seems impossible. Overall pace for 18 was 7:39.

8:25, 8:27, 8:25, 8:30, 8:04, 8:04, 7:48, 7:38, 7:39, 7:40, 7:31, 7:20, 7:17, 7:17, 6:58, 7:07 over big hill, 6:55, 6:37.

PM   Went for 15 miles on the mt bike right before dark. took it easy the first half then hammered pretty good coming back.