The Long Run

7.86 mi, 1:14:42, 9:29 avg

Cynthia came over to Jamie's house and I met them there.  Did easy paced run out to golf course and then back to neighborhood where we did a loop.  Coolish morning especially at the start.

8.1 mi, 1:07:19, 8:18 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders.  Ran with Joe for first 2.7 miles (up to water stop).  Took it easy and chatted about his race at Boston.  He did well considering the sciatica issues he battled for most of the month before the race.  After he turned back I picked it up a bit and did 5 MP miles (7:39 - 7:08 range).

7.23 mi, 1:03:56, 8:51 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, 7:00ish start.

1:03:55, 8.01 mi, 7:58 avg

Started about 8:30 which was much later than originally planned.  Air still felt cool but sun was out so it was in between hot and cool (still nice in the shade).

Warmed up with 1.8 miles easy out to water fountain, then did 4 x 400m with 1:15 jogs between, followed by 1 mile where I tried to stay somewhat close to the pace for the 400's (at least wanted to be faster than 6:10), followed by 2 more 400's

First set of 400's: 1:31, 1:27, 1:25, 1:22

1 mile: 6:06

Last set of 400's: 1:31, 1:29

Didn't want to do too much more than this because I'm going to try another 5k on Saturday.  Workout was copycat of workout that Cynthia did with Tampa Running except hers had 6x400m to start with and I think I took a longer recovery after the 1 mile.  About halfway through the 1 mile portion I felt like I had slowed down to a jog but was more or less holding the pace.  When I say it felt like a jog, I mean my perceived pace, not the effort which felt all out.

In any event it was a pretty good run.

1:26:51, 10.06 mi, 8:37 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood and out over by the golf course.  First 4 miles were easy pace but gradually getting faster and next 6 miles were a little bit faster than her goal marathon pace.  Able to maintain conversation throughout the run.   A little bit wamer this morning and somewhat humid but still cool if you use your imagination.  Good run.

Thought I'd try out another 5K after having good luck at Robbie's run.  Hoping to shave off a little bit of time.  Other goal was to try and run more even splits.

Did not get a better time but pretty happy with 20:24 time.  I was pretty strong through the second mile with the first two mile splits faster than at Robbie's run.  The race was supposed to start at 8:00 but they delayed it a little bit because many people were looking for registration/packet pickup at the finish area.  Race was point to point so start and finish were not very close (about a mile and a half away).  Morning was heating up, so knew it would be a little bit tough.  Race started and I was about 20th place for about the first half of a mile until I slowly gained on various other runners until we were mostly in the finish order.  As I got about halfway through the race I thought I had a chance at meeting my even split goal and was very pleased when I finished the second mile one second faster than the first.

6:14, 6:13, 6:38, and 5:54 pace for the last bit

Not sure exactly what happened on the third mile other than losing focus and not having someone to try and catch (the leaders were far enough ahead that I couldn't see them until almost the end.  The first almost two miles were mostly straight road.  Just before two miles we did a wide turn and then went onto a paved bike path for most of the rest of the race.

Ran some cool down with Cynthia and then stuck around for awards.  There were close to 20 people from the Striders group.  Pretty fun morning.