The Long Run

Decided it didn't matter how I got my miles in today so I broke it up into three parts.  I started off running with Noah.  We did 1.35 miles at a 10:35 pace.   As we turned the corner back onto our street I said to Noah "home stretch!" and then he took off.   I had to really run this time to catch him.  He was doing about a 7:10 pace for the last tenth of a mile.  Pretty soon he is going to take off and I won't be able to catch him.

 My next volunteer was Andy.  I had to do some bribing.  Also, Andy likes doing things with Dad where his brother doesn't always come along.  But actually we took one more with us - Sammy.  We did 1.4 miles at a 10:21 pace, but with no burst of speed at the end.

Finally I went back out by myself.  Since I was now thoroughly warmed up the pace felt easy.  Did 3.15 miles at 7:55 pace.  Last mile was a little bit slower as my left calf started to knot up slightly but felt ok once I slowed down a little bit.

Brooks
 

Easy miles which actually felt easy this morning. Still easing back into things. I decided to make the usual big production out of my run. 10 minutes on the bike, 5 minutes on the rower. Some static and dynamic stretches.

Calf felt much better today than on Monday. Much of this was due to the wonderful calf and feet massager my family gave to me.

Temperature was great for running, a very comfortable 59° .  iPod shuffle was not working again today.   Must still be on Christmas break.  I'm getting better at running with no music.  This is good practice for WHEN I go to Boston :)

Set out running with a goal of at least 4 miles depending on how things felt, things felt good so I ended up with a bit over 6 miles.

Average pace: 8:11

Asics gt-2120

Another easy run that felt easy. I tried my best to reproduce the steps I took before yesterday's run and it seemed to work. I did the same warm up and stretches as yesterday.

I was a little bit faster today than yesterday, but like yesterday I didn't look at my pace until the mile beeped. Once again the weather was nice and there were very few cars to contend with due to schools being out and many people taking time off.

Average pace: 8:01

Brooks - 485

Today was planned for just a few miles at an easy pace.  I decided to try and not make a big production out of it and just run from home.  I woke up just after 6:30 and fed the dogs.   Then I found myself dawdling, this happens sometimes when I don't leave the house to go some place else to run.  I caught myself and got myself moving.  I did one loop around the neighborhood on the bike to get warmed up.  It was great weather for running, again about 60°, although the air felt chilly while on the bike.

Then I did a little bit more stretching and started on my run.  Ran with no music.  Even on days when I run with music I like to start of with no music because I can hear myself breathing and this seems to help to settle into a good running rhythm.  I had my garmin but made sure not to look at the pace.  When the first mile beeped I was surprised to see 7:51 for the pace.  I usually can just barely get under a 9:00 pace for the first mile, sometimes it is slower than that.  Thinking maybe it was just a glitch a kept on moving at the same effort.  The next mile was 7:46, then 7:40, and 7:35.  Final 0.15 at 8:10 pace.

Ok, too fast for what was supposed to be an easy run but the effort felt easy so I call these easy miles.   Tomorrow I'll slow down, get in 8 or 9 miles and hopeful run with some others from my running group.

Asics gt-2120 

I met up with a bunch of the guys at Starkey park this morning at 6:45.  I had not run with such a big group for a while.  We all started out together but some what ahead and some turned around at the 4 mile mark.   I had been planning on 8 or 9, but Keith was doing 10 so I went along with him.  

The pace felt pretty good.  We stopped a couple times briefly, but I kept the clock running.  The beginning of the run was nice and cool but had warmed up a bit on the way back.

The last mile was the fastest at 7:41 but it didn't seem too fast because we maintained the conversation.

Afterwards we spent some time socializing over some coffee and some leftover Christmas cookies that I brought.  We chatted with a guy interested in joining our running group, he was just  starting his taper for the Disney marathon.  Hard to believe it has almost been one year since I ran that one.  It seems a lot longer ago.

Average pace: 8:23 

Brooks - 495 (maybe time to retire these)