Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Long run - 18.  7:46 AP.  42 degrees (chilly). 

First time wearing full winter gear.  Gloves, ear warmers, pants, thermal.  I probably could have worn shorts and left off the ear warmers, but I figured I was not yet adjusted to the cold so I didn't want to take any chances.  We had a cold front move through the area and thus saw a drop of the high temperature by over 20 degrees in one day.  

Kevin ran 10 miles of this with me.  He joined me at 129th Street, which was four miles in and ran 10 miles right in the middle and left me at the same point so that I ran the last four miles by myself.  I think it is working quite nicely to have him pace a portion of my runs with me.  It allows him to run a faster pace than he otherwise would had he run the full load.  As it worked out today, his pace was just slightly faster than I otherwise would have run those miles in the middle.  When I got to the final four miles where he dropped off I was able to focus and really crank it up.  I had a good run today.  It was my 2nd fastest time for this distance.  My fastest time was the marathon pace run (18 w/ 10 at marathon pace) 7 weeks ago.

I should also disclose here that I skipped my Saturday run so I got an extra day of rest which most definitely helped me this morning.  I had a tune up race on the schedule of 10 to 13 miles.  I did not get enough sleep this week, and came down with something Thursday and Friday.  On Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and decided not to compromise my immune system any more.  Had I ran the 10 I would have logged my first ever 70 mile week.

First 6: 7:53 AP, Second 6: 7:54 AP, Last 6: 7:27 AP.  

10 mile run with 6 1000 meter repeats.  44 degrees.  40 degree wind chill.  

I ran most of this on the school track.  

1000 meter repeats: 3:50, 3:40, 3:46, 3:45, 3:42, 3:33

I jogged about 70 percent of the interval time between repeats.  I know I ran the first one faster than 3:50 because I forgot to hit the lap button until a few clicks past the 1000 meter mark.  I feel good about this workout since my goal split time was 3:54 based on my 5k race PR.

Mid week MLR.  15 miles.  7:46 AP.  Beautiful morning.  47 degrees when I left.  I think it was 45 by the time I got back.  

I felt strong and was able to pull a pretty good negative split.  This made me happy since I ran some pretty hard 1000's yesterday as part of my 10 mile run.  

First 5: 8:04, Second 5: 7:41, Last 5 7:31.   First 5: 8:04, Last 10: 7:36 AP.  

AM - 6.05.  Recovery run.  Nice and easy.  8:35 AP.  64 degrees. 

PM -  4.09. 8:45 AP.  It was actually a bit faster than this, but my Garmin lost satellite connection when I first started out and was registering 15 minute mile pace for a few minutes.  I think I actually ran about 4.5 miles tonight.  Recovery run.  Still nice and easy.  I forgot to check the temperature a 7:00 PM when I ran, but now at 10:44 it is 68 degrees, 82% humidity.  It was humid for sure.  I definitely sweat more this evening than this morning. 

I need to get to bed now so I can get up at 4:30 to run my 12 mile MLR. 

MLR - 12.  8:02 AP.  68 degrees, 89%.  S.W.E.A.T.  I thought this high humidity was over.  Not quite.  

I felt a little drained this morning.  I think it has more to do with a lack of sleep plus the humidity that it was the cause, but it could be the hard miles this week.  

Finishing this run put me at 65 miles this week, which is a record high number for me for one week.  

Recovery run.  8:45 AP. 66 degrees, 89%.  

This completes my longest week on record.  70 miles!  

Tomorrow is a pace run.  I hope the warmer temperatures with high humidity we've been recording do not interfere.