Doing What I Can

Navigated the public transport system this morning to run an 8k race in nearby Niepolomice. The race started at noon in town and was on a paved trail except for about 4k that was in the beautiful Niepolomic forest, which was absolutely stunning. My watch did not save my splits of course, but I have a vague idea of where they were. Race started with people bunched in like sardines - it was almost clausterphobic, so I was glad when the gun went off. I was probably the only American in the race, as the field was almost entired Polish (which makes sense). The weather was nice, mostly clouldy and around 65 degrees, cool when the clouds reigned and muggy when the sun came out - nice and cool in the forest. My goal was to hit 5:45's and just maintain to get under 29 for the 8k - I just missed that goal, but probably not by much. The course was long by about .08 or .1, so I can venture to speculate that I probably hit the actual 8k mark in somewhere between 29:05-29:10, perhaps faster. As it was, my official time was 29:28, my watch, which isn't super reliable sometimes, had the race at 5.05, and regardless, the race was definitely a little long. Still, my splits were likely all over the place. Hit the first mile in 5:46, which was right on, then the 2nd was I believe 5:49, then I hit two between 5:55-6:00, then the last split, which flashed well short of the finish line (indicating 5 miles) was something in the ballpark of 5:36 (downhill) and may have lost signal in the forest. FInished in 16th place and 6th in my division. Was happy with the result, but upset my watch didn't get an accurate split for at least 5 miles. Regardless of if the race was long, it was fun, and even the off-road portion was beautiful. I had decent energy, but my turnover was degraded, probably because of the 5k a few days ago. Regardless, fun to run and I enjoyed the experience immensely! 

decent run tonight, just trying to work the kinks out. 6.8 in 7:27 pace, + strides, RD tomorrow

4.5 on a glorious mid-summer evening + strides

Another Thursday run along the Vistula - very warm day, but some late cloud cover helped a little and it made the atmosphere achieve a unique lighting for the whole race, which was fun. Something about running later in the evening and in such neat (flat) settings, really works for me. Goal this time was simple, sub- 17, a place I haven't been since 2012. Started off way, way too fast - my legs were on fire and I was wondering if I just didn't have it today, but then I saw the 400 click by on my watch between 70-75! first 1k was probably 3:14-3:18, went through mile 1 in 5:22, halfway turnaround was 8:23 (looking good for sub 17), 3k was 9:59, 2nd mile was 5:27 (10:49 for 2 miles), the last 1.1 was pretty rough and I paid the price for my fast start - definitely hurt coming home and I lost some time in the 3rd mile (5:35), not a great way to run a 5k, but closed it out in :31 (so maybe the last mile was a little faster and my close wasn't quite that fast, since that is booking it. crossed at 16:54 on my watch, 16:55 officially. Again, broke my own "course record", which made everyone in the running club really excited, I think its pretty cool they celebrate other's accomplishments like that! If that time stands for a week or a year, it doesn't matter to me, I am just happy to have reestablished my speed to where it was before my break of 2013. Just one more Thursday run before my cycle break, perhaps I will do the 10k and have a crack at my 10k PR before taking some time off.

4.6 easy this morning, very slow pace 7:54 plus strides

decent long"ish" run this morning, pretty warm and humid, but a nice day nonetheless, 7:27 avg pace, a little over 80  min, strides after