faster with age

     It rained a lot of the night and through the first half of the day. I just about went out in it but decided to wait and run in the afternoon. I went out around 3 o'clock and now it was 77 deg and with the sun burning down on all the wet alfalfa and cornfields I run past, it was very humid. I was kind of wondering why I had picked this over the downpour this morning. I ran 10 miles and actually felt like I had better energy than I did before Saturdays race. Kept the pace fairly easy. 8:13 AP

     I was looking back at my bike training over the last 3 weeks to get ready for the biathlon. I thought it was interesting that after doing my first 2 rides easy, the first ride that I pushed the pace hard my heart rate only averaged 137. On another ride 5 days later I pushed the pace as hard as I could going up a long hill and was able to get my HR to 160 but only for a few seconds and I was about ready to puke. The next week I did a hard ride on the actual biathlon course and was able to average 148 HR. 8 days later at the race I averaged 162 for the whole bike portion and was up to 170 on a couple of the hills. My speed was much faster with the higher HRs. I was kind of amazed at how fast the progression was. I wish I would have started earlier. Another 2 or 3 weeks probably really could have helped. There's always next year.

      Ran another 10 this morning but got it done early while it was nice and cool. I felt good on this run and was tempted to pick up the pace but after 2 races last week I think I'll keep all of my miles somewhat easy this week. 8:12 AP

     Ran 10 miles this morning. My back was a little tight and sore to start. I ran the first couple of miles around 9 min pace. Things loosened up and felt better after that. 8:25 AP

     Another 10 miles up around the reservoir this morning. My hip was a bit sore on Monday probably from the 2 races last week so I haven't done any faster running this week. Hip seems to be doing good. 8:12 AP

     An easy 7 miles this morning planning on 20 tomorrow. 8:41 AP

     This morning at 5:30 when I should have been starting my 20 mile run, my son and I headed out to scout for deer. It was a nice 49 degrees. By the time we got back and I got out it was around 8:30. It was still nice [about 64 deg] when I started but with the sun getting up high and no clouds it quickly felt much warmer. I have a water stash 6 miles out. I wasn't that thirsty on the way out but on the way back [at 14 miles] I was very ready for a drink and looking forward to it for a couple of miles before I got to it. I ran the first 4 miles at 8:04 ave, the next 3 at 7:46, next 5 [8-12] at 7:33 pace, next 6 [13-18] at 7:24 pace, last 2 at 6:55 and 6:43. I ran up past the reservoir and on out the canal. On Saturday mornings there are often people camped at the reservoir and I like the smell of campfires and cooking breakfast lingering in the trees as I run through. Most of the canal has a nice 2 track along it that stays beat down enough from the  water master driving it, which makes it nice to run on, but there is a 2 1/2 mile section that doesn't seem to have had any traffic on it yet this year. It has a lot of grass from knee to belly height covering the old 2 track that makes the running tough. I have to be careful not to roll an ankle. The temp was 73 when I finished but I would have guessed it was 80. It always feels warmer when the direct sun is that high. Last 2 marathon pace miles felt hard. Hard to imagine keeping that pace for 26 but overall it was a good run. Overall pace for 20 was 7:34.