dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

5.1 miles in 39:20.

I was running pretty slow at the start (9:00 pace or slower for the first quarter), and then about half a mile into the run I suddenly started feeling like it was easier to run and I sped up quite a bit with only a minimal increase in effort.

5.1 miles in 38:08.

At the start of my run I saw another runner heading the same direction I was going in.  I had to try really hard to not chase after him, but as he continued in the same direction as me I couldn't help but speed up a little.  About a mile into the run he stopped to fix his shoe and I passed him.  For the next three miles I then ran just fast enough to stay in front of him until he finally stopped again near a bathroom next to the lake we were both running around.  I should have just relaxed and let him pass me earlier in the run, but he looked like he should be slower than me and I think I was maybe just a little too prideful to let that happen.

5.1 miles in 41:48.

I felt tired and lethargic again.  I am wondering if how I feel is more closely connected to how much I eat than I realized previously.  Sometimes I don't eat enough, and when that happens I lose weight pretty quickly (I can drop a few pounds in a couple days) and I then have to really eat like a horse in order to put the weight back on.  I wonder if this is contributing to me feeling off lately.

5.1 miles in 40:29.

My achilles felt really tight for the first part of my run.  I felt fine otherwise, but the achilles felt too tight to speed up much.  It finally loosened up a couple miles into the run, and I felt pretty good thereafter.

5.1 miles in 40:04.

I was worried that my achilles would feel extra stiff this morning since I did my run yesterday in the evening, and today I ran in the morning.  Thankfully that did not happen and my achilles felt better throughout the run today than it did yesterday.

5.1 miles in 34:25.

I was in a time crunch this morning, so I kept the pace brisk throughout.  The effort wasn't too hard but due to my lack of fitness I am calling most of the workout a marathon pace effort.  I started slow like usual (2:16 for the first quarter) in order to let my achilles stretch out, and my overall pace for the first mile was still fairly slow (8:06).

After I hit my estimated mile mark I sped up substantially, and I hit the 2 mile mark in approximately 14:45 (6:39 mile), and made it to approximately 3.5 miles in 24:26 (9:41 for the 1.5 mile split).  At this point I saw a runner in front of me that was running pretty quickly, and I decided to catch her.  I would guess that she was running 6:30-6:40 pace, so I sped up to sub 6:00 pace in order to catch her.  I made it to a mile to go in approximately 27:56 (3:30 for the 0.59 from the 3.5 mile mark, which is a 5:55-6 average), followed by running the last uphill mile into a headwind in 6:29.

Overall pace for the run was 6:45, with a 6:26 average after the first mile.  This is the fastest run I have done on this course since I started running on it a month or so ago.  I was happy with how I felt during the run, although at times I longed for the pace to feel as easy as it used to when I was in much better shape.