The Next Step

It was a beautiful afternoon today with temp around 68, sunny and light wind.  After church I took the girls shopping and they were all resting when we got home so I went out for a run at Southeastway Park.  I felt a little tired from yesterday but just ran easy and enjoyed being outside and running through the woods on such a great day.  While we were shopping I picked up some Nike Frees and plan on giving them a try to see how it is running in them.  After getting back from my run I walked with my wife for a couple of miles in the Frees and they felt pretty good.

Awesome morning for running (52, sunny, light wind).  There was a definite hint of fall in the air.  Today's plan was to do 4 x 3/4 mile at 6:00 pace which would be 4:30 with a 1/4 mile recovery.  I decided to do this run on the roads to see how that would go.  I didn't feel the best this morning.  My legs were tired but wanted to stick with the workout.  I did a two mile workout and then started the repeats.  Here are the splits:

1st - 4:35

2nd - 4:32

3rd - 4:32

4th - 4:29

As usual I always seem to have trouble gettting started and my first one was off pace.  The second I felt pretty good and tired to stay relaxed.  The 3rd one was a little tough.  It was on a slight uphill so I had to push on that one.  By the 4th I was wondering if I was going to complete it but pushed it toward the end and was able to stay on pace.  Turned out to be a pretty good workout on not good legs.  Hope in the coming weeks to repeat this workout and stretch to 6 repeats.

 PM:  It was a beautiful sunny evening with temp of  71 and light winds.  Just wanted to get in some easy miles after the workout this morning.  I felt good starting out and ran faster than normal but it still felt easy.  I wanted to try out my new Nike Frees so ran a 3 mile loop than came back home changed shoes and ran a couple of more.  The Frees felt good but did have a little bit of a burning feel in the ball of my right foot.  Might take awhile to get used to them and I won't run very far in them.

5.25 miles in 39:27 (7:30 avg)

I had to get up early this morning and drive to Huntsville so didn't get to run this morning. After meetings I was able to get out and run around the company headquarters just before dark. It was high 70's with some wind. I didn't feel the best today. I felt a little run down. It could be from the long day or the fast stuff yesterday.  I just ran easy and took it slow.  It will be a busy week so hope to stay on a good schedule.

56:55 (8:07 avg)

Huntsville, AL:  It was warm (64) and humid this morning after an overnight rain.  I had a early morning meeting so didn't get to run as much as I was hoping. Since I felt tired running last night I didn't expect to feel much better this morning and was right.  I felt about the same as last night just kind of tired and sluggish.  I ran mostly easy but did 8 x hill sprints which was good to get some fast out of the run.  Might have a chance to run tonight depending on how my meetings work out.

Huntsville, AL:  It was warm (65) and a little humid this morning.  I felt better today than I have the last couple of days.  I started off easy running the first 4 miles in the 8:15 range then ran the middle 4 mile around 8 and finished the last 4 miles around 7:30.  I felt better as I went along and it was good to be able to finish strong.  I have really been working on finishing my runs faster than I start out.  Many times I have struggled the last few miles of races so I hope this will help my finishes.  Heading home tonight.

1:35:07 (7:56 avg)

I didn't get out today until lunch so it was much warmer (78) than normal.  Today I wanted to do a 4 mile tempo run targeted at 6:40 pace.  I was a little stiff starting out. Probably from the 6 hour drive back from Huntsville last night.  I loosened up pretty quickly and did a 3 mile warmup then started the tempo:  Here are the splits:

1st mile - 6:42

2nd -6:37

3rd - 6:32

4th - 6:28

Avg - 6:35

The first mile I strugged a little bit just getting moving and settling into the right pace.  I wanted to pick up the pace as I went and felt good the 2nd and 3rd miles.  I was starting to really feel the effort on the 4th mile but didn't have to push too hard.  I think I could have stretched it to 5 miles if I didn't pick up the pace on the 3rd and 4th miles.  Very happy with the run in the warmer weather and best tempo that I have done in awhile.

58:07 (7:15 avg)

It was a really nice morning.  It was around 60 when I started and 66 when I finished with slight wind.  I was tired this morning.  It has been a pretty full week with the travel and I have pushed up the miles the last couple of weeks.  Started off easy and got into my normal groove.  After the turnaround I picked up the pace some but nothing drastic.  My legs were really feeling it the last couple of miles which I think has more to do with just the accumlation of miles over the past couple of weeks.  Hopefully the body will adjust to the higher mileage soon.

2:16:50 (8:03 avg)