Freethinker ~ Freerunner

It was 72 degrees this morning with 74% humidity.  The slight breeze made it a beautiful morning for a run, especially for this time of year. 

Kevin ran about 11 miles with me.  My AP was 8:08.  I would have had an AP much closer to 8:00, but Kevin slowed us down a little bit around miles 10, 11, 12, and 13.  It was no big deal though, because I was able to finish strong and make my last mile my fastest at 7:42.  And there is the benefit of having someone to talk to on these long runs.  Another benefit to slowing it down a little during the final third was that I finished and did not feel completely wasted.  I doubt I will even be really that sore tomorrow, which is awesome because I ran yesterday at a relatively harder pace than normal.  

8:07

7:56

7:50

7:56

7:48

7:48

8:05

7:59

8:03

8:18

8:47

8:40

8:53

8:07

7:42

I woke up feeling a little bit sore, which was a surprise because I thought I would not be that sore.  It was one of those Monday mornings where I had to tell my self just to put on my shoes and head out the door.  The first few steps are the hardest.  

The temperature was 74 and the humidity was 84%.  I saw quite a few bikes out this morning, and other runners.

I planned on today simply being a recovery run as is usually the case on Monday after the long run, but I ended up finishing a little faster than I started. 

8:37

8:11

8:16

8:01

7:53

7:57

7:35

7:45

5:41 (distance .75 AP 7:34)

Nice morning at 80 degrees and 55% humidity.  AP 7:36.  We finally got a break from the high humidity, which made it really nice out.  The winds felt a little stronger out of the south, but my weather app says only 8 mph.  

I planned on running the first six at a 7:30 pace and the last three at a 7:00 pace.  I was not able to do that.  I hope I'm still just adjusting to the higher mileage.  I thought that after taking yesterday off from running that today would be the best day to try some speed work.  To be fair to myself I did do about 40 minutes of strength work yesterday including squats, quads, and calves. 

I might try for this same run again on Saturday.  For some reason I usually clock my fastest times on Saturday, which is the day before my long run.  I've wondered if it is because it the the furthest day from my long run and my body just takes that long to fully recover.  

Splits:

8:23

7:49

7:42

7:43

7:33

7:34

7:23

7:26

7:05

AP 8:06.  Nice and easy this morning.  68 degrees and 62%.  

Easy run this morning.  72 degrees with 62% humidity.  When I returned I checked again and the temperature had actually dropped 2 degrees.  Weird.  I think we are finally moving away from highs in the 105's.  AP of 8:01.   

I felt like I was dragging a little bit this morning, and it probably has to do with getting less then 6 hours of sleep last night.  

I can think of nothing else to say about my run so I'll digress.  I'm a little shocked that the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare and the individual mandate in the historic ruling yesterday.  Is there no limit to the power of the federal government now?  It was a truly sad day for America and what's left of our free society.   

So now that I'm in my fourth week of 45 plus miles I've decided to start flirting with speed workouts again.  I haven't done anything fancy yet, meaning no track workouts or road intervals with recovery periods.  I've just done a few tempo runs.  

I may start with some interval training next week, although I've got the Firecracker 5k on Wednesday so I'm not sure how I will work around that.  I may try something on Monday and then rest on Tuesday as usual. 

Mile seven was my slowest.  This mile has a hill within it that is an increase in elevation of 53 feet.  The hill actually starts before I clocked the beginning of this mile.  If you look at the whole hill it is about 90 feet of elevation.  You can see from my splits that I never quite recovered from mile the hill on mile seven.  I think part of my problem this morning was that I did not fuel properly.  I was sweating a lot and I probably should have brought some Gatorade.  I'm going to try drinking a sodium blend before my next run of this type to see if it helps me last longer. 

8:32

8:04

7:44

7:37

7:12

7:12

7:58

7:23

7:21