Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Nice and easy long run planned for today.  Training schedule planned 12 miles at a 9:07 pace.  I ran the first mile nice and easy and the last half mile nice and easy, although I did not record the splits.  That is something I need to start doing, including the splits for all my miles.  I have my new watch that records up to 12 splits, I just forget to us it until I'm half way through. 

Today I was scheduled to run 5 miles at an easy 9:07 pace.  I finished in 0:51:24 at an average pace of 8:34.  

Splits:  (1 mile) 8:01, (1 mile) 8:51, (1.2 miles) 9:01, (1 mile) 7:57, (1 mile) 8:34, (1.2 miles) 8:59.

I had some problems with my neighborhood course that I didn't realize until today.  I thought I had my mile markers down, but when I got back home and recorded my splits something did not look right.  I drove the course after I showered and realized what I thought was mile 2 was actually about 1.1 miles total distance, and my mile 3 is actually about 1.2 miles total.  I have adjusted my mile markers to fix the problem and should be able to record more accurate splits on my next training run.  

Other notes:  The temperature was a very nice, unusually warm 61 degrees.  I think my body has become accustomed to running in sub 30 degree weather because I began sweating profusely after only one mile.  I finished my run drenched as if it were 80 plus degrees.  I really see now how the body adjusts gradually to the changing seasonal weather patterns.  

Today I ran a tempo run.  My schedule called for 5 miles total, including 3 at a 7:12 pace, with 1 warm up and 1 cool down mile.  I recorded my actual splits below. 

I ended up running a little faster than my goal pace on miles 1 and 3.  My legs and joints felt really good tonight, but my stomach was cramping really bad.  I felt my self have to slow down somewhere on my second tempo mile.  Had I not cramped I would have run all three miles in well under goal pace.     

Splits:  8:33, 6:55, 7:22, 6:50, 8:22