The Long Run

It was a pretty good morning for running.  It was warmer but not too hot.  I went to the YMCA, did my usual Monday morning warm up routine.  Then got onto the treadmill for 3.1 miles at about an 8:15 pace average.

The only "events" of the morning happened outside.  I was going to do my almost 4 mile route outside from the Y.  Started out, and then noticed that my Garmin was off after about 0.2 miles.  Turned it back on.  It was acting kind of flaky.  Said I did the first mile in 7:24 but that didn't seem quite right based on the pace I had been running.  Then it turned off again and would not go back on.  So, I just ran without it.  I think it was 3.8 miles.  Not sure about the time but I'll guess at about an 8:00 pace.

I ran with Jenny this morning.  We were both planning on doing about the same number of miles and our running paces are getting a lot closer to each other so it worked out very well.  We ran on her usual T-shaped route.  We had to modify it slightly since one of the neighborhoods gates was closed so we replaced that section with a couple of laps around the playground.  We were almost home at 6 miles, so I kept on going to get in 7 for the morning.

I wore my old Garmin (201) which freaked out at one point and jumped ahead to finish a mile about .25 too soon, so my Garmin distance was 7.4, but I synced back up with Jenny's Garmin.

My Garmin pace read 8:22,  but if I adjust for the freak out, then it is 8:40.

Fortunately since I had company there was no need for music.  I haven't been having much luck recently with electronic devices (I've been spending evenings recovering from a horrible computer virus).

Drove over to the YMCA this morning.  Warmed up on the bike followed by some core and stretching.  Then two miles on the treadmill at about an 8:20 average pace.

Headed outside for 6 more.  Ran into Raj and Tim and talked to them for a few minutes.  We hadn't run together in a while so decided to meet back here tomorrow at 5:30 for 7 at an easy pace.  It's good to make yourself get up a little bit earlier.  Also will be nice to avoid the increasing temperatures and be able to run while it starts to get light out.

Headed out wearing my old garmin and my old mp3 player.  Nice run, no real issues.  Picked up the pace for the second to last mile (6:55), slowed down to cross the street (waited for a light) and made it back to the parking lot with a 7:30 pace (which I think was correct since the distance measured what it usually does).

Went back inside for a quick cool down and a few sets of weights.

Now with 3 decent runs in a row I'm feeling like things are getting back to normal.

As planned, I met up with Raj and Tim at the Y this morning just before 5:30.  We didn't waste much time getting started.  Took the first mile easy, the second mile a little bit faster, then settled into about a 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Starting temp was about 71 degrees with some humidity.   Still cool enough to be comfortable.  I hadn't run with these guys for a while so it was a nice change of pace.

Average pace: 7:54

I'm pretty happy with how the week is going.  Knee is almost completely better but it seems hard to get rid of that last 5%.

Fortunate to have one more cool morning.  Forecast had said 71 degrees at 6:00 am but at 6:30 it was only 65 degrees.   Met up with a bunch of people, including Raj, David, Andrea, Kevin and some others.  Went out 4 miles, and then everyone but Raj and I turned around.  We headed out another 2 miles before turning back.  I haven't run too many long runs with Raj but he was great to have along.  Stuck with me the whole way and was up for whatever pace.  For the last 4 miles we picked it up a bit.  A few times I thought I was slowing down, so I sped back up.  It turned out that I wasn't really slowing down, Raj was just making me think I'd slowed down to get me moving a bit faster.  Last 4 mile splits were 7:07, 7:03, 6:52, 6:45.

Average pace:  7:46

Hung out for a few minutes at the social hour before heading home.  Andy had his belt test today at Tae Kwon Do for his black belt.  He's now the youngest blackbelt in the class.  His final test was to break 3 boards over his head.  It took a couple of tries and the failed attempts looked like they really hurt but he just kept going and even smiled and joked about it.  He's come a long way from when he started and his first competition were he was getting beaten badly and the ref kind of wanted to stop the match but Andy didn't want to quit.