The Long Run

Back to warm temps this morning. Warmed up with about 2 miles easy, then did

4x1K repeats with paces: 6:06, 6:03, 5:55, 6:05.

Then did a short cool down. Consistent splits but a little slower than last week. I felt pretty good on the inside.  There are those mornings when I don't feel as good and consider scrapping the speed workout but end up surprising myself.  In any event I have to remember that despite what the numbers say I did put in the effort which is the important part since the goal is to provide a stimulus to the body to improve.

Feet were a little bit better today.

Nice to see a lot of friendly faces this morning :)

Nothing structured today, just wanted to get in 10 miles. Ran at Longleaf with the group, although a lot of my regular running partners were not there, I did run bits and pieces with various people.  Sometimes it's just nice to know others there even if you don't run with them.

Felt pretty good at the start with an 8:50 mile, then each mile got a little faster, hardly looked at the watch while running, things seemed to just flow. My last full mile was 6:43.   Felt renewed at the end.

I brought some banana bread this morning that I made Tuesday night.  Several people raved about it which made me feel good as I've never felt like much of a baker.  The bananas were from the backyard - it was a big bunch, they all ripen at the same time so I'm in a mad dash of eating them, giving them away and making banana bread

I'm racing the Komen 10K on Saturday.  I ran that race last year and did better than I thought I could after having been injured for a few months.  I also did that race 2 years before that time and broke 40:00 for the first time.  I love the course there and hope to do well and enjoy the race.

Relaxed Sunday morning run with the group - Keith, Eudair, Jammie, Ed, Greg, Rene

I got there for the "late" start at 6:00 (a bunch of people started at 5:30). Legs were a little tired at first and feet sore, but felt better after the first mile.  Weather was pretty good, but the company was the best part.

Enjoyed some coffee at Havana Dreamers after the run along with some banana bread from the last of this year's backyard bananas.

I wasn't going to do intervals today, but I ended up picking up the pace to almost interval pace (6:35) for a half mile, so changed my mind and did 3 more of approx 1K each at

paces - 5:54,5:47,5:58.

Did some cool down with the fast girls. Delicious frosted blondies brought by Charley after the run along with Clark's coffee for a few minutes before I had to go.  The group was a little smaller today, with a good number of people having just run Chicago on Sunday.

Cool weather and cool people to run with. 5:30 am start.  I brought my headlamp but the batteries ran low.

From Longleaf and into Starkey Park and back. Running with Cynthia, Jammie, Victoria and a few others on the way up and return trip with Cynthia. Missed the turn around point by a little bit so accidentally added on and extra mile for 16 instead of 15. As usual, appreciative of Diane's hospitality for her "lemonade stand".

It was nice to run with Eudair for a little bit this morning - about the first mile and a half.

Did 4 x 1km repeats at paces of - 5:55, 5:52, 5:53, 5:58.

I always have some sort of issue on the last one like traffic (there is a bus that comes through right on schedule as I'm finishing the last one every time), but this morning I was able to work around them and squeak by under 6:00.

Thinking about adding an interval or going to one mile repeats.  Actually, I was thinking that if I had a really fast 1km (under 5:40 pace) going I would try and hold onto the pace, but I didn't quite have one like that.

However, today was definitely a better run than Monday's run

Met my goals to put in a tempo effort for six miles, warmed up with easy 2.7 miles (including a much slower first mile), then ran 6 at tempo effort - 6:32, 6:29, 6:37, 6:38, 6:37, 6:34. I had new batteries in my light but still had some trouble seeing (I might have put one of the old ones back in by mistake). Ankles were a little bit tight.

Part of me was very satisfied with this run, although a small part of me was wishing I could at least run this at half marathon goal pace.  But, there's still time to get there.

After the run had a little bit of time for coffee and some pumpkin spice cake that Meribel brought.

Started with Cynthia and Eudair from Longleaf, quick stop at Diane's house then into the park.

I was just doing 10 this morning so stopped in the park although it was so nice out I wanted to keep going.

Saw Jamie and chatted with her for a minute as she was heading back home. Got back to the shelter and realized how early it still was, hung out for a bit then got a ride back with Stan. Going to try the PHCC 5K tomorrow.

Great morning to run a 5K with Andy and Thomas, we warmed up with a little over half mile easy running and some pickups.

Started out together and let Andy go about halfway.

I had to really keep on encouraging Thomas to keep on going.  We would stop and walk here and there.  He is capable of going faster, but without racing practice it's hard to know how to listen to your body and know what it means.  When we did this race two years ago, he had agreed to run it by himself, and it seems like with no one to complain to he just kept on running without stopping. 

However, for winging it, he did really great.   And unlike some 5K's in the past, there was no screaming.

I stayed with Thomas to finish about 31 minutes, Andy was waiting for us at the finish line having come in about 27 minutes. Perfect morning for this.

Easy pace warm up and then onto intervals.

Decided to move to 1 mile repeats - 6:02, 5:54, 5:56.

First one felt good for still warming up, second one felt great, third one I had to really push to hang on. I might have been able to do a fourth one but I'll try that next week. Some great company during the run and a nice (quick) cup of coffee afterward before heading back home.

Ran at Longleaf this morning,

2.5 mile easy paced warm up,

then did 3x2mi repeats -

• 1. 6:33, 6:25
• 2. 6:15, 6:18
  
• 3. 6:19,6:15

A slight breeze and almost warm, but still cool out, struggled a little to get into a groove on the first set, then did better on the next two. I was pretty happy with this workout

Nice to see Rachel G. back after not seeing her for a while. Good luck to Mike S. , Beka, Melanie and Andrea off to MCM this weekend, hopefully they'll get a break in the weather.

Windy morning, nice group of people, surprise appearance from Dixie (he had an interesting bee story which I didn't get to hear all of, something about removing a hive from a church then not being able to get the bees to stay away from his truck, fortunately I didn't see any show up for the run).

Ran from Longleaf to Diane's house then into Starkey Park. I ran one mile with Marcia (pretty rare since our training hardly ever lines up), then turned back and made the return trip by myself.

Last 4 miles in the 7:30's. Big group of people at Havana Dreamer's for coffee, I sat for 5 minutes then took a cup to go with me (along with half a bfast sandwich Keith gave me) Great to see everyone out this morning.