dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I went out averaging 7:00 pace for the first 4 miles after which I decided to throw in 2 miles hard at the 6 mile mark. So, in anticipation of this, I sped up a bit and made it to the 6 mile mark in 41:36. I then ran 2 miles in 10:48 (5:23, 5:25) which felt a little fast, but I think that if someone was with me I might have been able to hold a 5:25 pace for 5 miles. I also felt like if I had just dropped the pace down to 5:30 I could have held it significantly longer than 5 miles. Maybe I am wrong, but that is how I felt so I think that it is positive. It is the first time I have done more than 1 mile at a fast pace since the Saint George marathon (maybe) so it has been a while. I then slowed down to about a 7:45 average over the last 2 miles to finish in 1:07:55.

I ran with Sasha, Josse, Ted and Adam this morning.  Adam had already been running for a bit so he only ran 1 mile with us and then turned around, but I ran 6 miles with the others and then 4 more with Sasha and Josse (slightly less with Sasha due to his frequent vpb stops).  Finished in 1:18:42

I accidentally slept in this morning, but I woke up a little after 5 so I still had the time to get out and run before I needed to be in class.  This is good, because the morning is the only time I have on Wednesday to go running.  I went out a little quicker than normal because I was a little late, but I didn't have any miles faster than about 6:30.  My first mile was about 7:50 but after that I sped up pretty quickly.  I met up with Sasha about half way through the run.  He had left without me when I didn't show up at his house and I ran about 4 miles with him averaging just under 6:40 per mile while I was with him.  I then came back to my house and ran a little extra to get to 10 miles for the day bringing my total time for the run to 1:07:45.

I ran with Sasha this morning, and I did my first real tempo run in months (unless you count the 2 miles I ran hard on Monday or a couple of quick miles I have done here and there).  We ran our standard 5 mile tempo.  We started out a little too quickly for me, as I thought that I would be able to go faster than I could.  I think that I am just a little tired.  I should get a little more sleep than I have been and I don't think that my body has quite adjusted to the mileage yet but it is coming.  Anyhow, we ran a 5:32 first mile then 5:30.  At this point I started to not feel so good, and we slowed down to a 5:38 for the 3rd mile (which includes a turn around) followed by a 5:37 and a 5:40 to finish with a total time of 27:57.  This is not a bad time for this particular course however I should have been able to go faster.  I should probably not do any speed work next week before re-evaluating and deciding if I can start it up again.

I ran with Sasha at 6:45 this morning.  We met at my house again so it was a little longer to get out and back.  We kept it pretty slow for the first while and then slowly started speeding up.  We finished in 1:20:28.

I didn't want to be out for too long today so I decided to keep the pace a little quicker than normal.  I started out in 6:57 for the first mile and then sped up from there.  I made it through 4.5 in 29:35 then I made it through 9.1 in 1:00:02.  I went through 13.6 in 1:28:57 and finished in 1:38:31 for an average pace of 6:31.  I felt kind of sluggish at the beginning and I actually slowed down on purpose about 5 miles in but then at about mile 9 I started speeding up without realizing it and I felt good towards the end.