AZ Run Dad

10 miles: Kind of a short but fast little workout this morning. Warmed up 4.5 miles with skips, high knees, and butt kicks, and strides (the usual for speed days) then did 8 x 400 w/400 jogs. 66,69,67,68,68,69,66,67 were the splits. Felt good today. I'm really happy with how I felt this week after the half. I've got a big training week next week that I'm looking forward to.

8 miles easy with strides in the last mile. Feeling really good lately. Time to be careful and not get greedy.

AM: 11 miles: I was really looking forward to this workout. I knew it would be tough but it's a great indicator of my fitness. The workout was written down as 3 x 2 mile in 10:40 w/4 min jogs. I did my usual warmup of 2.8 w/ drills and strides. Actual splits were 10:34,10:34,10:34. That looks pretty but I started off too fast with a 5:11 and had to slow to a 5:22 for the second mile in order not to blow up. The next two sets were more consistent (5:16,5:17) and 5:18,5:15. I did have to dig on the last mile. Recovery jogs were 8 min pace. Good solid workout today.I'm happy with this one.

PM: 4 miles easy at the park.  Legs were tired from the morning session but it felt good for me to loosen up.  It's much easier for me to get up before 3 am and knock out the tough workouts than it is to stop on the way home for these shakeouts. 

8 easy miles on the canal in Phoenix.

AM: 13 miles: Hills 06:35 pace

Ran from work in the dark and headed up to the canal and did 3 x up and down 32nd st to Lincoln. It's about 100 ft up over a mile. Went up in 6:15,6:01,6:00 and ran down at long run effort. Good solid run today. Hill portion was tough. My daughter turns five today. Wow that was fast! Also, big game for ASU tonight v Oregon. Go Devils!

PM: 4 miles easy on the way home. Well, that game didn't go as hoped.

9 + miles at recovery pace then 6 x 100ish strides.  Legs were tired today but strides felt great.

22 miles avg. 6:09: Today was one of the biggest workouts I will do before the marathon. 5x3 mile at 5:50 pace with 1 mile jogs between each one was the plan. 3 mile portions were 17:27,17:29,17:23,17:21,16:58. The mile jogs were all in the 7-7:10 range. This was a great workout for me and a confidence builder for sure. None of the faster stuff felt easy but I never felt in trouble either. Also, the fact that I was able to close with a 5:31 mile when I was already very tired was encouraging. I did this same workout about 5-6 weeks ago and today was much faster with the same effort. Have a great weekend everyone! I'm already focusing on recovery from this one. I'll need a few days of easy running I'm guessing.