I only run on days that end in a "y."

My mom is here visiting, picked her up yesterday, so I actually had someone to watch the kids so I could go for a run.  My wife left town on business on Wednesday and isn't coming back until later today.  It was really a struggle to get in a run while she was away.

My leg felt much better so I figured I would go on a 14 mile run today.  I have lost one GPS watch and misplaced the other - so I am watchless.  I had a normal watch to keep track of time but otherwise I ran by effort.  I ran pretty hard so most likely low 7:00's for the majority, tried to push it at the end.  

I ran my 14 mile progressive run route but kept going until I felt like turning around.  I figured I was around 15.5 for the run but gmap shows the route to be 16.22.  I ran the last 3.7 miles in 26 minutes so right around 7:00 pace.  That seems to be about what I did most of the run at. Full 16.22 miles in 1 hour 57 minutes - so overall average pace was 7:12.

 Quad feels pretty good.

A bit over 6.5 miles in 60 minutes.  Still can't find my GPS watch but I know the route.  I ran the trail loop near the office during lunch.  Legs were pretty sore and it took a while to get going.  75 degrees and sunny - it was quite warm out.

Warm and muggy morning, and my body is not used to the time change yet.  My alarm went off at 4:50 and my body is saying "wait - it's 3:50!"  

Got to the annex a bit early and ran a couple easy.  Met up with Russ to do Barton Hills - lollipop loop - so putting down these miles as easy is a misnomer, there were anything but easy.  We hit the first hill about 1.5 miles in and it was rolling hills for the next 4 - 5 miles.  Nice finish via the trail.  There was no water set out so we carried on.  That was really mentally tough because I really wanted to stop 1/2 way through the hills.  

No GPS but Russ said the last mile was 6:40.  We ran 8 miles in 56 minutes so the AP was 7:00.  It felt hard but did not realize we were moving that fast.  See - there is a positive about not running with the Garmin all the time. 

1.25 easy miles cool down to finish it off.

Leg felt pretty good - I was worried a bit about the downhill stress but had no issues.  Actually felt fine after the run and even now. 

7 miles around the trail near the office during lunch.  It was humid but fortunately the sun stayed hidden, otherwise it would have been miserable. 

65 degrees/humid. 

I had to go into work last night at 9 pm and did not get home until midnight, in bed at 12:15, probably fell asleep around 12:30 - only to wake up at 4:55.  I had to get downtown at 5:30 to meet Dasha and borrow her fancy new touch screen Garmin.  I then ran a couple easy and met up with the Boston group at the annex.  After the coach spoke (seemed like eternity) we headed over to the track, so another 1.75 miles easy.  

I then did 8 x 1000 with 200m active recovery in between sets.  Nothing outrageous today speed wise - I kept it nice and relaxed and worked on turnover.  I didn't feel fatigued until #7 but I suspect that is normal, pushed through without a problem.  Although there were a lot of runners out there I did not have anyone running my pace.  Mike was there but had started early - he was already on number 5 when I arrived.  So I just ran them by myself.

I decided to take the long way back and really fatigue the legs, and it worked.  2.6 miles back.

1000m in 3:50 (6:10 pace) (warm-up)

1000m in 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000m in 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000m in 3:41 (5:55 pace)

1000m in 3:43 (5:58 pace)

1000m in 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000m in 3:42 (5:56 pace)

1000m in 3:42 (5:56 pace)

1000m in 3:42 (5:56 pace)

As a side note, Garmin shows these long - .63 to .65 miles, which, if true, would make the pace closer to 5:37 - 5:43.  This is the pace that the Garmin said I was running during the repeats.  I am going to trust that the track is correct and that the Garmin is off.  I had to run around other runners a few times, but I can't believe it would have been off that much.

65 degrees, 100% humidity.

7 recovery miles this morning.  First mile was really slow.  9:22 AP pace.

68 degrees - high humidity.  Yuck.  Woke up at 6 am - right when the group should have been leaving the annex.  I knew the route so found them around mile 4.  Parked my car on a side road and jumped in with Woo.  Man - going from 0 to 7:00 mile pace is not easy, we turned the corner after 1/4 mile and hit the expo hills - also not fun without a warm up.   We met up with Farshid and I ended running with him as Woo took off later in the run, and we kept the pace right around 7:05 - 7:10 which felt nice and easy.  That seems to be a good sign.  

I think there was maybe 3 miles of this run where there were not any hills.  It was hard running to the annex - where I normally would have finished - and to have to keep going since I had to run to my car where I left it on the course. So 4 more miles to go at this point, and it was the first part of the cap 10k course - so all rolling hills to my car.  

I went a little bit extra to get in 19.  Around 7:15 AP for the run. 

Last week 30 miles, this week 80.  My legs held up pretty well.