dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran 15 miles this morning.  I got up at 4:40am so that I would have time to get in my run before heading off to school.  Low temperature this morning was forecast at 87 degrees, and I imagine that it was accurate.  

I ran a 3 x 2 mile workout starting 5.75 miles into the run, just trying to hit a solid marathon effort.  I ran the first repeat in 10:52 (5:25, 5:27) followed by a one mile recovery.  The second repeat was an 11:08 (5:44, 5:24).  This repeat was slower because the first mile was uphill, I had a 180 degree turn halfway through and I ran back down, whereas the first repeat had a net downhill for both miles (net downhill, but still slow because of rollers, heat, sharp turns, etc).  The last repeat was also a 10:52 (5:34, 5:18) with both miles giving me a net downhill, while dealing with a short but nasty hill in the first mile.  The effort was fairly consistent for all three repeats.  It is hard to say how fast the effort was worth in good conditions (flat, cool, etc) but I did not feel like I was ever really hammering the pace, which is good.  I finished by running home, with a total time for 15 miles of 1:43:13.

I ran to school in 1:03:11.  Total of 8.6 miles.  I started off quick at the beginning of the run, but purposefully slowed down partway through the run so that I wouldn't stress myself too much.

PM:  I ran home from school in temperatures that were in the 105-107 range.  I think this was the hottest run I have done all summer, but to be honest I think that the runs I did in about 102 degrees at 1-2pm were worse than this (5-6pm) because the sun wasn't shining as directly on me.  Total time was 1:03:13. 

I ran to school this morning, and then added on some extra mileage on the track after I got there.  During the run I did a pick up for about a mile at a slower marathon pace, as I was trying to catch up to the bus (I would have caught it too, but I got stuck at a light that the bus made it through just before I got to UNLV).  After I got to school I ran 6 x 400 on the track, with 400 recovery (average recovery just under 2:00).  Splits for the 400's were 68, 68, 68, 67-8, 67, 66.  I was pleased that I got progressively faster over the course of the workout.  The splits were not as fast as I wanted, but it was pretty windy, so that cost me a second or two on each repeat.  I finished with a total of 13 miles for the morning in a time of 1:30:26.

PM:  I ran 5 miles in 37:55.  Kimia picked me up at a park on the way home from school so that I would not get too many miles in for the day.

The month finished well for me.  I have gone over 400 miles for the first time (total of over 426 miles) and I have gotten in some solid workouts recently.  I just need to stay consistent with things, avoid injury, and get in lots of mileage at marathon pace. 

I ran to school this morning in 1:05:41.  I ran 4 sprints during the run of about 15 seconds each in order to get my legs moving, and to remind my legs that they still need to be able to pick it up if needed.  Total of 8.6 miles.

PM:  I ran home for a total of 8.6 miles in 1:01:11.  During the run I ran 1 mile fast, with a focus on staying relaxed at a marathon effort.  Time was 5:19 for 1 mile.  I was lucky to not get stopped at the stop light on Green Valley Pkwy during this mile (the markers on the road cross this light, so I have to get lucky if I run hard through this stretch).

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:18:06.  I kept things easy, and my average HR for the run was only 127.

PM:  5 miles in 40:30.  My legs felt more tired than I expected them to.

I ran another treadmill long run today.  This is the third time that I have done this over the last 3 months, because it allows me to run fast in temperatures under 80 degrees, whereas when I run outside I often have to deal with temperatures in the 90's, even when I run early in the morning.  I set the treadmill to a 1% grade during the tempo to simulate air resistance, and I turned a fan on me to simulate a little air movement just like last time.

I started with a warm-up of 9 miles, starting off slow, then slowly speeding up, and running the last mile at 9.6mph before starting the tempo (57:48 for the first 8.5 miles, for an average of 6:48/mile).

I ran the tempo in a similar manner to how I ran it the last time, starting at 11.3mph (5:18 pace) for the first 5 miles.  However, this time I did not increase the pace to 11.4 mph after 5 miles, waiting to speed up until I hit the 7 mile mark.  At 7 miles I sped up to 11.4 mph, and at 8 miles I increased the pace to 11.5 mph.  After 9 miles I slowly increased the pace over the last mile, finishing at 12.6 mph, with a closing mile of 4:56-4:58 (didn't see the exact time, but it was somewhere in that range).  5 mile splits were 26:32 and 26:02 (52:34 for 10 miles).  I was much happier with this 10 mile tempo than I was the last time I did this.  Last time I struggled to maintain pace, whereas this time I felt smooth, relaxed and controlled.  To be honest, 5:18 pace felt easy.  I was also happy with my HR, because I have felt lately like my cardiovascular fitness has been improving, and my HR stayed around 169-171 for most of the time I was running at 5:18 pace (in the past it has been just a little higher than that at that pace).

So, this workout was by and large a validation for me that my fitness is where I want it to be (at least it is trending in the right direction).  Seeing that I did this at the end of a 100+ mile week feels good too.  I still felt strong at the end of this workout, and I even ran my 1 mile cool down at 6:40 pace because I wanted to get the run over with, and my legs did not feel hammered.  Total time for 20 miles was 2:00:20 (6:01 pace).  At the end of the workout it was 72 degrees with 52% humidity in the lab.