The Long Run

I had one of my best runs today for an easy run.  Sometimes easy is in name only, and even the slow miles seem hard and the faster miles are not as hard but are faster than planned.

The first couple of miles were only moderately annoying - many times the first few miles are awful but not today.

My splits for today were: 8:50, 8:45, 8:29, 8:11, 8:05, 7:57, 7:52, 7:56, .23 @ 8:49

The weather was perfect, about 55° and sunny after the sun came up which was also nice to watch.  Running has certainly shown me more sunrises than I would have otherwise seen.

Average pace: 8:17

Asics 

This morning when I woke up I had a feeling of complete exhaustion, almost as if something was wrong with me.  But, I went ahead and hoped that it was something I could shake off once I got moving.  I got out the door and made it to they Y for a warm up on the machines inside.  I did a few minutes on the rowing machine for something different and then 10 minutes on the stationary bike to keep my knee on track.

I went outside and realized I had overdressed slightly - it was 60° but I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, but I guess it wasn't too warm for that.

My goal again this morning was to stick with easy miles, get through the warm up miles and then not speed up to "marathon pace" but hold back a little bit.  I was also thinking about doing at least 8 miles,  but when I got to 7 miles it felt like a good day to do 9.

My splits were: 8:31, 8:30, 8:34, 8:03, 7:54, 7:51, 7:52, 7:53, 7:52, and 0.13 @8:43

Average pace: 8:07

The splits were even closer together than yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm going to add in some tempo.

Brooks glycerin.
 

I felt good this morning when I woke up , which was a few minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off. I did my usual - let the dogs out, feed the dogs, drink some water, eat a snack. I was at the Y before 6:15. I warmed up on the stationary bike for about 10 minutes then did a little bit of time on the treadmill, speeding up and slowing down for about 5 minutes.

The run plan for today was to do a tempo run of 5 miles at about 7:00 pace, with some easy miles first, and a few easy miles after the tempo, for about 11 miles and 90 minutes total of running.

First few warm up miles were pretty good - 8:52 ,8:43, 8:25, then 0.38 @ 10:54 which included stopping to drop off my drink bottle and loosening up a bit. Then the tempo began

First mile felt pretty good, second mile starting feeling tedious, and all of the sudden my pace dropped off at the beginning of the third mile, but I kicked myself back in gear and made that mile pace ok. 4th mile was better, and I felt good on the 5th mile, either because that was the last mile at tempo or I was fully warmed up.

Tempo miles were: 6:57, 6:51, 6:58, 6:54, 6:47

After the tempo portion I grabbed my drink bottle and was in a slow jog for just over a minute then finished up the easy miles: 8:23, 7:55, 8:09 (and 8:09 pace for a little past the last mile)

So, I made all of my goals. I didn't feel particularly fast and light this morning but that is ok. The 5th tempo mile I did feel like I could have gone faster but I wanted to keep it pretty close to the other miles.

Average pace: 7:52 

Asics

I let myself sleep in a little bit this morning to 6:00 since I was planning on fewer miles.  I woke up with a dull ache in my back on the left side about mid way up.  Not anything too bad, just annoying.

I warmed up inside with some time on the rowing machine and stationary bike then headed outside.   Plan was to try and do an easy and consistent pace today.  First mile felt pretty good as far as first miles go.  Second and third miles didn't feel much better, but not too terrible either.  Sometimes, the day after a hard day can feel very easy and relaxed, unfortunately today was not one of those days.  It was nice and cool outside, about the same temp as other morning recently but a little bit of fog had rolled in.   This is good because for most of the past week it was very dry.

Splits for today were: 8:40, 8:20, 8:20, 8:30, 7:55, 8:15, 8:07, 0.27 @ 8:47

Actually, the 7th mile felt pretty good, and was a little bit faster than 8:07 due to the time spent waiting for the traffic light to change.

Brooks 

Did 20 minutes on the stationary bike, 10 minutes on the rowing machine and then about 30 minutes worth of upper body weights.

It would have been a cold morning outside if I was running today.  Tomorrow will probably be cold for my long run so I'm mentally preparing for it now. 

It was somewhere between cold and cool this morning.  Starting temp about 42°.  I wore an extra shirt, a skin tight body armour shirt underneath a long sleeve tech shirt.  I met up with Joe at the Y just after 6:30 - I was supposed to be there at 6:30 but was running a few minutes late.  Also started out with gloves and a hat.   Bob was also there this morning.

The three of us started out at a nice easy pace.  It didn't feel that cold anymore after the first mile.  Sometime along the way to the horse farm, Eric caught up with us and then passed us.  We turned around from the horse farm to head back to the Y.  It was nice to run with two other people.  WE were at a conversational pace pretty much the whole way.  After getting back to they Y, I ditched the hat and gloves.  After an un-timed break, Joe, Bob, and I headed back out.  Bob split off from us a little past a mile out as he was doing 12 today.  Joe and I continued on to the horse farm again, turned around and came back.  The pace picked up a little bit here and there but nothing too fast.  The last mile was at 7:41 - although most of it was probably faster but we were caught by a traffic light.

So, nothing fancy, just get the miles in without putting too much stress.  Joe had hurt his back a week and a half ago but is back running.

Average pace: 8:40

When I got home, I went into the pool for about 20 minutes to help loosen up, I felt a lot better after I did that. 

 Brooks glycerin