The Next Step

Got a little break in the weather today as it was 68 and lower humidity. I felt good this morning and was just a little stiff from the long run over the weekend. Took it easy the first mile and then got into a comfortable pace for the rest of the run.

63:30

We had some big thunderstorms rip through this morning but I was lucky and caught a window long enough to get my run in without getting soaked or struck by lightning. Today I wanted to do a medium long run with 6 miles at MP toward the end. I felt good starting out but had some soreness and tightness in my right hip. That seemed to work out after 3 or 4 miles. I did 6 miles easy and then started the MP miles. The plan was to run these at 7:20 pace. Here is the breakdown:

1st - 7:18 (into the wind)

2nd - 7:11 (felt pretty good at this point)

3rd - 7:22 (still felt good just trying to stay on pace)

4th - 7:01 (pushed this one a little too much)

5th - 7:27 (still felt ok but slowed too much after previous mile)

6th - 7:18 (legs started to fell it on this one but ok)

7:16 avg

I was pretty happy with the run considering it was very humid (87%, 75 degrees) and not the best conditions for running. I certainly felt stronger today than I did a couple of weeks ago so I am starting to feel like I am turning the corner. Hopefully the body is getting used to the higher mileage.

1:41:08

In Washington DC today. Didn't sleep very good last night. It was one of those nights where you wake up every hour looking at the clock thinking it should be morning. My legs were tired this morning from yesterday's longer MP run. I just took it easy and ran at a real comfortable pace. It was warm and humid up here as well but supposed to get better later in the week.

66:48

Today I wanted to do a workout to develop strength for staying on pace in races or longer tempos. For me the best thing is mile repeats so today I wanted to do 4 x 1 mile at 6:40 pace with a couple minutes recovery. I am still in DC and lucky to have a pretty nice track close by. I did a 3 mile warmup and then did the repeats in:

1st - 6:35 (This one was a struggle as I was trying get the legs awake)

2nd - 6:36 (Felt better on this one)

3rd - 6:34 (Felt ok but feeling it the last lap)

4th - 6:29 (Not bad and wanted to finish strong)

I was pretty happy with the workout and think it turned out good. I am hoping that this will help me stay on pace for some longer tempo workouts to come.

1:14:16

Back home from DC and was treated to a beautiful morning for running (60, low humidity). I just did an easy recovery run this morning. This has been a pretty heavy week for me so for and I want to do another 20 miler tomorrow so just took it real easy today. With the weather being so nice I wanted to keep going but stayed with the plan. Also, I took off the day from work today and taking the kids to the water park so had to get back for that.

49:09

It was an unbelievably beautiful morning for August in Indiana (52, no wind, low humidity). What more could you ask for in the weather? I felt good this morning and give the good weather I wanted to run a little faster pace than normal for my long run. I started off real easy the first mile (8:48) but then picked it up and tried to settle in around 8:00 pace. I went through the half way point at around 8:08 avg pace. I was still feeling good so decided to pick it up over the last half. I ran the second half of the run almost 3 minutes faster than the first which is a good feeling. I noticed some pain in my right knee around 17 miles but it didn't stay with me. Every little ache and pain is a worry because I don't want to breakdown when I feel like I am finally getting used to the higher mileage. I finished feeling good and ran the last two miles about 7:30 pace. This was a real good run for me and gives me a lot of confidence for the marathon since I still have over two months to go.

2:46:21 (7:55 avg)

By the way, watched the Olympic opening last night and it was really impressive. Don't know how London will top that.