Positive Running

Ran 18.5 miles north of the river and at Two Rivers Park in 2:30:17 for an average pace of 8:07.  Ran miles 8 through 11 at an average pace of 7:48.  Was stiff when I started running the first two warm-up miles in 9:00 and 8:58.  Also, cooled down the last 3 miles at 8:14, 8:22 and 8:32.  Overall, it was a pretty good long run, but I really felt the need to increase my weekly base milage back to 60 miles or above.

Rest day.

Ran 11 miles with Chris north of the river.  Ran 6 miles in 7:36 and 5 miles in 8:15.  Chris is still recovering from having run the Arkansas Traveler 100 one week ago.  Ultramarathons are a very different type of endurance running from road marathon training, so it will take a few weeks for Chris to recover and get back his road legs.  Overall, it was a beautiful morning for running in the low 60s with few clouds.

10.2 mile progressive run north of the river with Chris.  Ran 1 mile at 6:50. 2.2 miles at 7:27, 3 miles at 7:41, and 4 miles at 8:05.  It was a beautiful moring for running, around 60 degrees with the dew point around 55.  Chris was much stronger this morning than yesterday, maybe because it is the 10th day since the AT100 and he is beginning to recover. 

Rest day.

Ran 21 miles with Wesley on a beautiful but windy day.  We ran the first 10 miles against a steady wind from the west that ranged between 15 and 25 mph.  We started fast (7:47 mile) then running against the wind slowed our pace down to an average 8:12 per mile for the first 10 miles. We ran along the Arkansas River trail taking a detour to run around some soccer fields at Burns Park then ran over the BDB and turned around after running through the Two Rivers parking lot.  With the same level of effort, we ran the second half of the run at a pace approximately 30 seconds per mile faster than the first half of the run, with miles 13 - 19 at a pace primarily between 7:30 and 7:45.

This run was a great confidence builder for me because I felt great after 19 miles and believe I could have maintained the 7:40 pace for another 7 miles.  It was also good because I'm getting close to refining my plan for food, fluids, salt and gels during the Memphis St. Jude Marathon.  I plan to keep one long run per week on my schedule for the next three weeks, with six weeks to go before the Memphis St. Jude Marathon.  I still need to determine what my optimal pace will be for that race.

We had a great run and extended it to 21 by running over a bridge near the River Market.  Running with Wesley is a lot fun.  Wesley is full of encouragement and he ran very strong today.  His pace could easily have been better than a minute or more per mile faster.   

Rest day.