The Long Run

Headed over to the Y this morning.   Lots of warm up and stretching then 4.1 miles on the treadmill at about an 8:20 pace.  Headed outside for another 2.24 miles at 7:49 pace.  Felt like I should have been doing more but I'm in the final stages of ramping back up.  Doing good so far and don't want to rush it.  IT band was pretty well behaved today.  I've looked into some new stretches and some exercises that should help.

After running did a few sets of leg extensions to keep my knees in line.

I'll run a little bit farther tomorrow morning.

I was supposed to run with Dixie this morning.  Got there just before 6:00, waiting until ten minutes after six then got going.  It was on the chilly side and a little bit of wind for the first mile, then was nicer once I turned off the main road.   Ran out to the lake park for a quick water stop then ran past it a little bit before turning around to make sure I would get in at least 7 miles today.  On the way back ran into Dixie who had overslept.  Oh well, better late than never!  Ran back to the parking lot and cooled down for a bit before I headed home.

The boys had no school today so Jenny was taking them to Starkey to ride their bikes while she did her run.   Should be a nice morning for that.

Tried to keep it pretty easy this morning.  It was a very nice morning out for running, high 60's, very pleasant.  I went to the Y , did lots of warm up, stretching, and some core work.  I did one mile on the treadmill at about a 9 minute pace and chatted with one of Jenny's running friends who was on the arc trainer next to me.

I headed outside and purposely did not look at my Garmin to see how things would go.  Pace felt nice, mostly easy but a little on the fast side for easy - but not quite fast enough to be marathon pace miles.  I felt one IT band twang below my left knee towards the end of the run.  Keeping it in check so far.

Outside average pace: 7:41

I did a few sets of weights inside after running, mainly upper body.

I did my long run for the week today instead of Saturday since I have no idea what opportunities I will have to run while in New York, so might as well do it when I have the opportunity.  This was the longest run since the marathon.  Overall it felt pretty good but was starting to feel a little bit long towards the end.   It was on the verge of being warm this morning and the humidity was up so it certainly wasn't the best running weather, but not terrible either.

After a short warm up on my bike I headed out the neighborhood, to 54, up Starkey, into Alico pass and then back the same way.  Started out at 8:30 then gradually got faster until about 4 or 5 miles then bounced around between 7:30's and 7:50's for the rest of the run.  No IT band problems today.  Hopefully I'm going to win this time.

Average pace: 7:53

Loosened up and cooled down a bit in the pool.  I am very grateful this time of year to be living in Florida.

Objective for today was to just get in a few more miles for the week.  5 sounded about right.  I kept the pace relatively easy - I wasn't constantly looking at my pace on the Garmin, just observed the mile splits after they happened.  I ran around the neighborhood after a warm up on my bike.  Weather was still on the warm side but a little bit better than yesterday.

There was no music today.  I thought about not taking a Garmin but since I don't have a good well known 5 mile route that I wanted to do I made one up as I went along.

Average pace: 7:52

So, just over 10 miles more this week than last week.  I'll add some more next week and end up somewhere in the mid 40's