dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I slept a bunch last night.  I needed it after that race yesterday and then working until 11:00pm.

I met with the same basic group as always this morning, plus Matt.  We ran out to the lake and back for a total of 10.1 miles in 1:14:59.  The arch in my right foot has been feeling slightly sore since yesterday, but I didn't really even notice it while I was running, so I think it should be fine.

PM:  ran 4 more miles in 29:53.  Ended at the car place to pick up the car after an oil change so I didn't run back up the hill to the house, which probably gives me an aided time for my run today.  Oh, well.

I ran with Sasha, Daniel, and Mary Ann this morning.  Daniel turned around after 4 miles, while the rest of us ran 10.1 miles in 1:20:32.  In the middle of the run I did 5x400 in 1:10, 1:11, 1:10, 1:10, 1:10.  Sasha ran half of each 400 with me on all but the last repeat when he ran the full 400.  I felt good running them, but I could tell that I have not done anything like this in quite a while as I had to put in a little more effort to push off of the ground than I normally should need to do. Basically, the muscles in my shins felt a little weak because I am not used to this.

PM:  I ran 4 more miles in 31:28.  I felt good, but a little tired, so I kept the pace slightly slower than I normally do.

I ran with Sasha and Mary Ann this morning.  I was really dragging because I only got 6 hours of sleep last night, and we met at 5:15 in the morning.  I know that some people on the blog get up that early every day, but I am just not used to it.  It also doesn't help that I work until 10:00pm most every night.  Anyhow, we ran 10.1 miles in 1:23:13.

I ran with Sasha, Mary Ann, and Daniel this morning.  Daniel turned around after 4 miles, and the rest of us finished 10.1 miles in 1:18:17.  In the middle of the run I did one mile hard in 4:58.  Sasha did the first half of this with me.  Quarter splits: 1:13, 1:16, 1:16, 1:13.  I would have been right at 5:00 which was goal pace, but I sped up a little the last 50-100m or so to dip under 5:00.

PM:  4 more miles in 30:04.  I came back in the same time it took to go out.  That is actually somewhat odd for me, since going out I am heading downhill, and coming back I go up.

10.1 miles this morning with Sasha, Daniel, Mary Ann, and Matt.  I took a vpb in the middle of the run and ran about half a mile fast to catch up.  I timed 400 in 1:15 during the catch-up.  Total time of 1:18:38 for 10.1 miles.

I ran on my own this morning because Sasha had to run earlier in the morning, and Mary Ann was running a race.  I needed to do a hard long tempo run anyway, so I was probably going to end up running alone regardless.  So, I drove to the start of our 5 mile tempo run, and after a 1 mile warm-up in 7:48 I jumped into the tempo.  My splits were as follows:

1 - 5:52 - right on goal pace, but the pace throughout the mile was very uneven.

2 - 5:55 - my shins are starting to tighten up and hurt a bit

3 - 5:59 - the shins are hurting pretty bad now and are slowing me down.  Hit my first turn-around during this mile

4 - 5:57 - I started focusing on pushing off more from my toes and it helped stretch out my shins

5 - 5:53 - 29:36 for 5 miles.  In the pace range I wanted, but slightly slower than expected.  Second turn-around at the end of this mile

6 - 5:55 - the shins are finally starting to feel normal and I can run without pain

7 - 5:52 - now that I am feeling better the quarter splits are starting to yo-yo as my body is telling me it wants to go faster, and I accidentally would run too fast for one quarter, and then overcompensate and run too slow on the next.  This went on for a few miles

8 - 5:50 - I hit the third turn-around during this mile

9 - 5:55

10 - 5:53 - 29:25 for the second 5 miles, 59:01 for 10 miles.  fourth turn-around at the 10 mile mark

11 - 5:47 - After 10 miles I was sick and tired of trying to force myself to stay at 5:52 pace, so I just decided to run and not worry about pace anymore

12 - 5:52

13 - 5:47 - 5th turn-around during this mile

14 - 5:51

15 - 5:47 - 6th turn-around at the 15 mile mark.  29:04 for 5 miles, 1:28:05 for 15 miles

16 - 5:47

17 - 5:51 - I purposefully slowed a bit this mile since I knew that at the 17 mile mark I was going to be running all out to the finish.

18 - 5:12 - As soon as I started this mile I took off, and I pushed it hard to the finish.  Quarter splits for this mile were 76, 80, 79, 77 with my last turn-around coming half-way through.  The 80 second quarter was slowed by some wind, and the turn, while the 77 was probably slightly wind-aided

19 - 5:12 - quarter splits of 79, 77, 79, 77.  I was working pretty hard by the time I finished this mile

20 - 5:17 - quarter splits of 81, 79, 79, 78.  I lost concentration a bit during the first quarter, otherwise I probably would have run a 5:15 for this mile.  I was really hurting by the end of this mile.  15:41 for the last 3 miles, 27:19 for the last 5 miles, 56:23 for the last 10 miles, 1:55:24 for 20 miles

So, the results of this tempo were very encouraging.  First, it lets me know that I am getting over the fuel issues that I have had in the past, as I did not feel like I was running low on fuel at the end of the tempo.  Second, it lets me know that I can run close to my all out 5k pace after running 17 miles averaging 5:52 per mile.  I still feel that I have some work to do, as I was hoping to hold 5:12 pace through the finish, but overall I think that the results of this are very positive.