The Long Run

I convinced my two boys to run the 1.7 mile loop around the neighborhood.  They are both good runners but I don't take them out enough.  We also brought Sammy the dog.  It was just after dinner.  Everyone had a good time.  We kept the pace light and easy and if someone said "walk break" we would take a short walking break.   The last time I took Andy out I pushed him a little too hard at the end and he hadn't wanted to run since then.   I think this run ended on a good note and hopefully we can do more of these together on a regular basis.

Time for the loop was 20:53.  (I didn't bring the garmin, but I did wear a watch and only looked at it at the end). 

I had that Monday morning "what should I do?" feeling as I was getting ready today.  The answer of course was go for a run and sort things out while running.  But first I did some warm up inside the Y with bike and rowing machine then headed outside.  The first mile was slow - a little bit slower than usual.  The second mile was also slow.  I still had a tiny bit of residual soreness from the race.  But just after two miles I felt loosened up and ready to run.  Eventually I picked it up for a couple of 7:15 miles, then did the last 1.15 at about a 7:45 pace.

Weather was very nice this morning with a beautiful 64° and comfortable humidity.

Average pace: 8:01 

For the most part today's run felt ok, but was maybe a little bit sluggish feeling compared to last Thursday's run when I did the same route.

I ran from my house to SR54, up Starkey Blvd and then back.

The weather keeps fluctuating, and today it was warmer than yesterday and a bit sticky.  Usually at the turn around point I'm feeling great because I'm on my way back, but today I caught myself thinking otherwise.  Despite a some negativity here and there it turned into a pretty good run.  My return trip was faster than the outbound and I managed to do one faster mile as I got close to home - 6:53.

Average pace: 7:58 

Overall a basic run, nothing too fancy. Our fluctuating weather continues with much cooler weather this morning and wind (15-20 with gusts to 30).

I warmed up inside with the usual 10 minutes bike and 5 minutes rower.

I thought about doing a short run outside and then finishing up on the treadmill, but by the time I got to four miles I didn't see a point in going inside. I picked up the last mile a little bit to  7:24.

Average pace: 8:08

After the run I went inside and did some lower body weights.

Today I felt back at my usual energy level as compared to yesterday where I felt a slight dip.  Boy, I'm glad that's over with. 

Tomorrow I intend to hit the track for some 800's. I haven't done those for quite a long time.

As promised yesterday, I did do some 800's today.  It has been quite a long time since I have done those (last spring) and even quite some time since I have been to a track (Nov. for 1600's).  It was colder out this morning than yesterday (about 41° today) but not as windy as yesterday.   I woke up a little bit earlier than usual to make sure I was done before school started.

Did a little bit of usual warm up inside the Y, then headed outside for a little over 2 easy miles ending up at the HS track next door to the Y.

The first lap of the first 800 felt really good, almost easy.  Next lap felt harder but overall not too bad.  Second 800 felt much harder and I began questioning myself as to whether I could do these or not.  Third and fourth did not get any worse, fifth one felt a little bit better.  I was feeling much more confident for the sixth one.  Since I was on the verge of doubting myself until the last one, I think that means I was putting out a good effort.

Here are the splits:

3:03, 3:02, 3:01, 3:02, 3:00, 2:57

Times might be off slightly as it was difficult to hit the stop button exactly when I crossed the line but they are probably not more than a second off.  The Garmin pace on the track is not very accurate, but it is somewhat helpful to keep on pace with if you have a rough idea of how far it is off.  However, it was a great confidence booster to see the pace as 5:xx for most of the time while doing the repeats.

I jogged 400's between the 800's, then after I was done cooled down for almost 2 miles.

Average pace: 8:39

Today was a planned non-running day.  I went to the Y this morning and did some cardio cross training followed by various upper and lower body weights.  I started to get onto the treadmill and then decided against it for some reason (I'm not sure why though).

After dinner Noah was a little bit wound up so I took him and Sammy out for a short run.  It was actually walk, jog, sprint, repeat.  We did 1.4 miles in a total time of 15:49.  Afterwards, everyone felt much better and I escaped ending up with a goose egg for today.

I met up with Dixie at the 7-11 near John Chestnut park.  I was supposed to be there at 6:30 but was 5 minutes late.  Dixie had his son Josh with him.  We got ready and headed up the bike trail on East lake rd.  Josh was on his bike and carried Dixie's gatorade.  The first mile was slow partly because we weren't paying attention.   The next mile was still a bit slow.  On the third mile I still felt slow and decided that would be ok, just stick with the easy pace.

We got to near the end of the trail where there is a neighborhood with a 1.1 mile loop and a couple of hills.  We did that loop twice and then headed back down the bike trail.  The weather for the whole run was pretty much perfect.  The start had been just slightly cool, enough where you wished you had a long sleeve shirt.  It quickly warmed up to perfect.

The return trip was a little bit faster.  We got back to the parking lot and did one short loop in and out of John Chestnut park.  Dixie and Josh had to get going.  I thought about doing another 1.1 miles to round up my total to 13 miles but instead decided to just head home.  I knew that Jenny was thinking about doing a short run this morning before Tae Kwon Do.

I got home just in time for the pancakes to still be warm.  They were delicious apple cinnamon whole grain pancakes, mmmmmm!  So, the extra 1.1 miles wouldn't have done that much for me and I would have had to reheat the pancakes.

 Average pace: 8:35