The Long Run

Monday morning inside/outside run.  I thought about possibly doing the whole run inside but it just seemed like too much treadmill on a day when it wasn't that bad outside.  Went to the Y, warmed up on the bike for 10 minutes, then did 4.22 miles on the treadmill at about 8:10 average pace.  I had brought long running pants and two long sleeve shirts.  Decided to just stick with shorts even though it was 28°.

The running outside actually felt pretty good.  I was warmed up from the treadmill and must have had on just the right amount of clothes.  

Outside average pace: 7:35

Ran with Jenny this morning.  Bundled up with 3 shirts, and felt comfortable.  Still chilly, but overall it was a good run.  We did 7.5 miles together, then I finished off with one more loop around the neighborhood.

Average pace: 8:21

I think today is supposed to be the last cold morning for a while.  Set out from my house, wearing a thick sweatshirt which I planned on stashing after 1 mile, hoping that I'd be warmed up by then.  Headed over to Starkey Blvd for my tempo run, which is a two mile warm up to get there.

Goal today was 5 miles @ 6:36 pace, I didn't quite make that pace for all of the miles, but I came pretty close.  Calves and ankles felt stiff.  For the first mile I was feeling pretty good, 2nd mile was a bit tougher, then miles 3 and 4 felt challenging.  I thought I was picking up some speed in the 4th mile but it wasn't quite enough.  Finally for the last mile, I must have felt warmed up enough to get moving and ended up on a positive note.

Splits were: 6:35, 6:37, 6:45, 6:40, 6:27

Weather was back to how it normally is for this time of year.  Nice, in the 40's this morning.  Going to warm up a little more in the next few days.  I ran with Jenny this morning and she was going to do 6 X 400 with 400 jogs  as well as warm up and cool down.  Her goal was a 6:35 pace.  There was a time when Jenny's speed work was still a fairly comfortable pace for me, that time has past.  The 400's made the run go by pretty quickly.  I may not continue to do her speed work with her since I usually do mine on Wednesdays and usually don't want to do two hard runs in a row.  But, at least it worked out pretty well today.

We ended up running together for a total of 7 miles, then I went on to get 1 more mile in for the morning.

Average pace: 8:53

Best weather in quite some time.  I think it was mid 40's.  Ran by myself, easy pace for a good part of it and a couple of fast miles towards the end.  The slower miles weren't too slow, it was nice not to have to slog through a slow warm up.

Average pace: 7:45

This morning was warm, almost too warm, but still nice.  Arrived in Starkey park at 6:15 and was going to set out with a small group but I was a little bit slow in getting started and ended up running alone for about 5 miles.  I had some trouble getting myself into a good pace.  Left ankle was feeling tight, not painful, just tight.  Stopped a couple of times to try and stretch it out (it felt like a tight piano wire running from my shin to my foot on the left side).

After about 4 miles was starting to feel better and finally got moving faster.  Just after 5 miles caught up with Raj.  Much more pleasant running with someone else.  Kept going at a good relaxed pace out to nine miles out before turning around.  Sometime near the turnaround I saw that I had averaged 8:26.  Stopped at the water stop just before getting back into Starkey Park.  Saw Eudair there and we talked her into running back with us.  I started to pick it up a little bit and Raj insisted that I go ahead.  Since I was finally running better I took him up on the offer.  Raj and Eudair stuck together.

For the last 6 miles I kept a good pace mainly between 6:50 and 7:00 with the last mile at 6:34.

Average pace: 7:51

Chatted with a bunch of the runners at the social hour for a bit and got to see everyone's various Disney marathon medals from last weekend.