Doing What I Can

Today I wanted to run 15-16 miles. Perfect weather for it too, low 50s and no wind, just a beautiful fall evening. Ended up stopping after 13. Just felt tired so I didnt push it. The 13 felt extremely easy though, plus I ran without GU or water, largely because i left all my GUs at my apt and I am home this weekend. That could have contributed to my abrupt stop at 13.

Splits:

1- 7:12.4

2- 7:12.3

3- 7:32.1

4- 7:27.3

5- 7:32.1 (36:56, 7:22 per mile)

6- 7:20.6

7- 7:22.0

8- 7:15.5

9- 7:30.0

10- 7:35.5 (1:13:59 or 7:24 pace)

11- 7:32.1

12- 7:38.8

13- 7:43.1

TOTAL-- 1:36:53, 7:27 pace

Overall, you can see where I would normally GU (between 8 and 9) and since I didnt have any, that is where my miles started to slow. Overall a good run at a nice pace, felt relaxed and just enjoyed the run.

Rough 5 this morning, did a quick turnaround from the long run yesterday and felt like poop today. 5 miles in 39:10 or 7:50 per mile, not a bad pace for recovery just felt really tired, which was expected.

Repeat miles today, 4 of them with 3:30 rest between each. My repeats were:

1- 5:41

2- 5:38

3- 5:47

4- 5:43

Average-- 5:42

Overall a good workout on tired legs. I think if I rest up my legs I could run a lot faster, which is my plan here towards the end of the season. Im thinking that I probably will not attempt the full at the end of the year and instead just focus on running as many 5ks as i can before the year is out. Might even use next year as a solely 5k year where I try to break 16 the whole year. We shall see.

Really worked on running at a slower pace for my 7 mile run today. I have read everywhere and heard from lots of good runners that slowing your pace on mileage day is the key to getting a big breakthrough. Thats what I tried to do today. Splits:

1- 7:28.4

2- 8:00.6

3- 7:17.2

4- 7:40.1

5- 7:35.8

6- 7:56.9

7- 7:23.4

TOTAL-- 53:22 (7:37 per mile)

So, in retrospect, not as slow as I thought I was going when I look at the average. I tried though, and its getting easier to run slower. The effort feels easy, so I think that is an important thing.

Tempo 3 miles today. Weather was rough. high 30s with high winds and sleet, rain, snow mix blowing in my face.

1- 5:48.0

2- 5:56.1 (11:44, 5:52 pace)

3- 5:58.6 (I was really happy with this mile cuz it was into that crazy wind and driving sleet for at least half of the mile. Was nice to gut it out and I was spent after this mile cuz the effort)

TOTAL-- 17:42, 5:54 pace

Overall, not a bad workout. I am going to try and peak these next two weeks as i have 2 5ks on each of the next two weekends. So I will be tapering and utilizing the year long base I have built of both speed and mileage.

A nice spooky 3 miles this evening. In true halloween spirit, the run was at night and there was a full moon and smoke was hanging over almost my entire running route from leaf burning today. It was way awesome and definitely felt like halloween.