Doing What I Can

longest training run to date here. not sure of actual mile times for most of it and I actually got lost (it was a planned 18 mile run and I tracked around for .75 til I found my route again. first 9.75 was 1:07:53, 6:58 avg pace, pretty solid out. The way back was tougher into the wind and slightly uphill, last 3 miles were exposed and very difficult but I kept pushing. Final time was 2:12:05, 7:03 avg pace for the entire run. Pretty good overall, I'm quite happy with today's run. 

goal of this one was to run at top end GMP for 6 miles straight. given the almost 19 yesterday this would simulate giving all i had left at the end of a marathon. my goal was sub 40 min as that is 6:40 pace and reasonable. Instead I crushed it and ran 38:52, 6:29 avg pace. then on my 1 mile cooldown, i ran a 6:50 for 45:42, 6:32 avg pace for 7 miles. splits during the planned 6 mile GMP run:

1- 6:27.5

2- 6:29.5

3- 6:30 (19:27 3 mile split)

4 & 5- 13:07

6- 6:17.9

total like I said was 38:52. My two 3 mile halves were very equal, 19:27 and 19:25.

ice bath afterwards, then taking tomorrow off. My quads are pretty sore, but I could feel worse. Very good marathon simulation training over the last 2 days. Looking forward to getting the BQ in early June.

6 mile shakeout early this morning at 6:15 am. 45:04, 7:30.5 avg pace, took 'er nice and easy (plus my body was still asleep for most of the run!)

nice easy 7 this afternoon. very steadily paced, had the wind at my back out and fought it on the way back...forgot how windy iowa was compared to freiburg. Splits:

1- 6:58.7

2- 6:57.0

3- 6:54.6

4- 7:04.7

5- 7:10.4

6- 7:09.0

7- 6:45.8

total-- 49:00, 7:00 avg pace, a nice evenly paced day

4 miles easy this morning, already a little warm, I got a good sweat going, last mile was a touch fast but nothing felt different. Prolly that dang wind, 28:24, 7:06 avg pace, childserve 5k tomorrow, ran 17:21 there last year and I am in far better shape than compared to then, so hopefully that will translate. A goal tomorrow is 16:30 or better. First real sub 16 attempt will likely be May 19th in Marion..good course and better competition..good recipe for success.

My 2nd attempt at the Childserve 5k this morning. Love doing this race because its such a great cause! (not to mention the course is pancake flat!). Course is very accurate as well, so its a true test here. Last year I ran a pretty solid 17:21, this year I was hoping sub 16:40. Conditions were great, mid-50s with not much wind. 

At the line there was one other guy, Vic Morales, who is a pretty good runner, I knew I'd have a challenge. Started off well, right on his shoulder, but after about 800, I let off the pace and let him have a lead, he was going out pretty hard or so the effort felt. Another kid stayed with me for around 1 mile. At the mile, I clicked a 5:19.9, a little slower than i'd like for what I'm trying to do, but my legs were not turning over very well I noticed. 5:30.2 2nd mile split, i tried to at least maintain my effort and not let Vic get any farther ahead. Soon after the first mile I had dropped the kid, so now the only goal I had was to chase down Vic. The last 1.1 I gave it a good effort and closed to within 10-15 seconds, but could never quite get em. Kind of bummed, cuz I was so close to running him down, but thats racing sometimes, today just wasn't my day. last 1.1 was 6:04,which is right near 5:23 pace, so I definitely picked it up both in reality and in perceived effort this last mile. I clocked a low 16:54, but the official results had 16:55, 5:26 pace. Not a bad race given the somewhat higher mileage this week, and the 26 second improvement on last year still shows I'm heading in the right direction (as last week I improved on last year as well). Hopefully, I'll be able to run a great time next week as the competition is really good and the course fast.

PM- 5 miles in 34:48, 6:58 avg pace. ice bath afterwards