The Next Step

Pretty good morning for a race. It was warm (72) and humid but at least it was overcast and only a light wind.  Ran a two mile warm up before the race and felt ok.  For some reason it always takes me a while to get going after a day off.  Goal for today was something around 6:20 pace.  So tried to not get crazy at the start and keep it reasonable.  Got started cleanly and settled into a good pace.  The race strung out pretty quickly so was running by myself after about a 1/2.  Came through the first mile in 6:19 so was pretty much where I wanted to be.  The second mile I kind of settled in and then realized that I was slowly down more so started trying to pick off some runners ahead. This helped me get back closer to pace but still slowed to a 6:25.  I was catching some runners so that kept me moviated but I still was a little off from where I wanted to be.  In hindsight I think I could have pushed this mile more but was holding too much back.  Third mile was 6:25.  Since I had held back some I was able to pick it up the last mile and passed a couple of more runners and was happy to come through in 6:13.  Overall I felt OK with the race.  The time was about what I expected but pretty much on par with my last race so no real improvement.  I ran this same race in 2009 and was only 17 seconds slower this year so pretty good considering I am still building back up my mileage and I am 4 years older.  I still have a ways to go to get ready to run a decent half in Nov but I think these shorter races are helping me get back into the racing mode and creating a foundation to build some speed on.

Beautiful morning today.  The temp was in the mid 50's and the humidity much lower.  I was dragging a little this moring from the race yesterday but after a few miles started to feel better.  Just kept it easy today to recover some from yesterday.  Going to try to get in a couple of workouts this week and get back on schedule for the half in Nov.

1:20:04 (8:01 avg)

Huntsville, AL: It was a nice morning.  Temp in mid 60's but humidity was low.  Felt a little tired this morning but felt better after a couple of miles.  Today planned on 8 x 200 and 4 x 400.  I did this on the road so just used the Garmin to approximate the distance and then repeat it.  Felt good on the 200's and ran them controlled but fast.  Didn't push to hard.  The 400's went pretty well also but last couple felt my legs getting heavy. The 400s were harder to control the pace since I didn't have any time feedback like I can get on the track. Overall pretty good workout.  Here are the splits:

200: 39, 38, 40, 39, 40, 40, 39, 39

400: 82, 84, 86, 81

Huntsville, AL: Another nice morning.  It was 64 so felt pretty good.  Just ran easy today for a nice recovery run.  Just enjoyed the morning and didn't check the time until I finished.  

59:16 (8:28 avg)

Huntsville, AL: pretty nice morning with temp in mid 60's and lower humidity. I was thinking of running a tempo today but my Garmin battery died and I really wanted to know what I was running so just ran easy. Been a little tired this week so can probably use the easy day. Felt ok and just ran by feel since I didn't have any time. Tired to keep it real easy.

Really nice morning. Temp was in the upper 50's and felt nice out. Ran over to NP park and did five laps on the trail. Felt pretty good today and kept if easy most of the way. Picked up that last three miles and ran them in the low to mid 7 minute range. This is my longest run this year and feels good to be stretching it out some.

2:08:04 (8:00 avg)