Positive Running

Recovery day.  Did not run or work out.

Ran 14.5 miles from downtown Little Rock to the Big Dam Bridge and back in 2 hrs and 1 minute for an average of 8:35 per mile.  It was a muggy morning with a dew point of 70 and temperatures around 76 degrees.  The morning was cloudy and there was very little to no wind.  I ran the first 7.25 miles at 8:10 per mile, but slowed down considerably on the return leg of the run, averaging 8:59 per mile for the second 7.25 miles.  The slower speed on the return was due to a need to build up my endurance for longer runs.

There seemed to be fewer people than usual on the trail today.  My guess is that the weather forecast that called for a possibility of rain gave people an excuse to stay inside.  Also, the fish were really biting on the Arkansas River this morning, with large bass jumping out of the water to feed on flies.

Another muggy and cloudy morning in Little Rock.  Ran 12-miles along the Arkansas River trail, scaring away the hundreds of Canadian Geese that had gathered in various spots between mile markers 5 and 5.5.  We haven't received much rain where I live, but the trail had three large sections with standing water this morning between mile markers 5 and 5.5. The temperature was 77 - 79 degrees and the dew point was 72, so it was a good morning for a slow long distance type of run.  I averaged only 8:40 per mile, after starting out running at an 8:13 per minute pace for the first 6 miles.  By the time I turned around at the 6 mile point, my shoes were soaked in sweat and I could hear the "squishing" of my insoles.  I'll take Wednesday off as a recovery day since I ran two consecutive days.  But I don't feel sore, probably because both runs this week have been at a slower pace than I usually run.  But I feel good that mile base of miles is staying consistent at the 50+ miles per week level.

Worked out on elliptical machine, burning 650 calories in the gym.

Tempo run of 8-miles with Wesley north of the river on a 77 degree morning with the dew point at 73 (very muggy).  Ran the first first 4-miles in an average of 7.53 per mile, and ran the second 4-miles with an averge of 8.08 per mile.  Ran the 6th mile in 7.52, so need to push harder to get the 7th mile under 8-minutes.  The weekday medium-long runs are helping to improve my endurance, but are also causing me to not be as fresh for tempo runs as I had been.  That's OK.  Wesley and I talked about whether temperature or dew point has a greater affect on runners.  We agree that high temperatures have a definite impact, and so do high dew points when combined with moderately-high to high temperatures.  

Ran 7 very easy miles with Abtin and Kevin north of the Arkansas River.  We averaged an 8:45 per mile pace in order to enable Abtin to keep up with us.  Kevin and I thought of it as a "recovery run" or warm-up, but Abtin was running hard.  We talked about lots of different things as we ran since Abtin just came back from spending approximately 10 days in North Carolina.  It was a fun way to start the day, and it started to rain just after we finished.  I wore my new Saucony Cortana shoes which felt great, but this was not much of a test for them.  I'll reserve my assessment of the Cortanas after I run a Tempo run on Monday.

Kevin sent us a photo of our buddy Wesley completely in the air as he was extending his stride during the Little Rock Firecracker Fast 5K, which Wesley ran in 5:35 minutes per mile.  The photo is a textbook example of outstanding running form that reminds me of short films we used to watch of world class runners when I was in high school and college.