The Long Run

8.11 miles @ 7:59 pace, rolling hills and hill repeats

I headed over to the hilly neighborhood to run.  When I pulled out of my driveway, the temperature read 82 degrees.  As I was driving there it started to rain and the temperature dropped to 76 degrees.  The drive seemed to be taking extra long then I realized I had missed my turn and was on my way to work instead.  Turned around and headed to where I needed to be.

The rain stopped and it felt nice out at first.  I felt sluggish in the warm up but held onto the hope of loosening up and feeling better.  Ran a bit over 4.5 miles in the hilly part then headed back down the street to where I was parked.  I did 4 repeats up and down the church driveway and by that time finally felt good and ended the last mile at a 6:58 pace which felt much better than the first warm up mile.

6.55 miles @ 8:38 pace, recovery run day

Nice run with Jenny, good to have my running buddy back home.  We both had about the same thing on our schedules so it worked out great.  Although, the run was short enough that we didn't really need to stop and "picnic" on cold water and gel or shot blocks.

3 X 2K repeats tomorrow!

9 miles @ 7:45 average pace, with 3 X 2KM repeats, and 3X200m

It was warm this morning, average humidity for this time of year (96%) and a hint of smoke in the air.  Warmed up for a little over 2 miles with Jenny, then started my repeats.

They went pretty well, it was easier mentally since there was only 3 of them on the schedule.  They weren't easy but I got the job done, paces for each repeat were:

6:16, 6:10, 6:14

Followed those up with 3 X 200m with 200m jog between each one.

The best part about the run was the cheering from Jenny each time we criss-crossed our paths, it was just like being at a race!

Cooled down in the pool when I got home and stretched a bit.

 Mostly just easy runs between here and the marathon one week from Saturday.  Now it's time to reduce stress and get more sleep.

 Nice, easy run with Jenny around the neighborhood.  Good to take it easy after yesterday's run.  Nothing to complain about.

Average pace: 8:36

I've fallen behind again on posting so this entry is pretty short.

Ran by myself this morning.  Was able to sleep in until almost 6:30, which was good since yesterday evening, all of the sudden I felt wiped out and almost like I was coming down with something.

Felt good on the run and once I was closer to home thought I would pick it up a little bit, maybe to a 7:00 pace, but I kept on picking it up and did the last mile at 6:31 pace instead.

Average pace: 7:38

PM - took the dogs for a walk, played Wii Soccer Heading game on Wii Fit and came pretty close to getting a perfect game, then I did my yoga routine.

I can't believe a week from tonight will be the night before the race.  The date always seems to sneak up on me!

One last medium long run before next week's marathon.  I went to Starkey Park this morning arriving about 6:15.  Just in time to start out running with other people.  I started out slowly and gradually went a little faster.  Chatted a bit with Bob.  There was a sign "Smoke of Fog Ahead".  I thought I would take fog if there was a choice, but there wasn't.  Actually there was neither but some smokey smell left over from a controlled burn area.

At 4 miles I caught up with some more of the group and ran with several other people until I made it to my 6 mile point.

Turned around and was quickly able to get into what I thought was "marathon pace", but it was actually a little faster.  Return trip splits were: 6:40, 6:41, 6:37, 6:33, 6:39, 6:29.

Last mile felt like I was pushing the pace but the other miles did not feel like a struggle.  I hope I can get that same feeling next week.

Weather was about 76 degrees at the start and then close to 80 degrees at the end.  There was some light cloud cover so the sun wasn't too bad.

Average pace: 7:23

Spent some time at the social hour and then headed home followed by a quick splash in the pool.  I couldn't have asked for a better morning.