It's all relative

AM: St. Pete run with the crew. Amazing time. Ran the first two miles solo then just had a blast talking to everyone. I knew I was excited to be out there because I just wouldn't shut up.

3x2 mile workout with a couple minutes recovery in between thrown in the middle.

PM: hot run for February 1st... Also some knee pain today, which is worrisome.

PM: Tried a track workout mixed in with some slow miles.  Didn't start well, didn't end well.  

Workout was meant to be a ladder: 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 with 400 rest between all items except for the first two and last two.  Despite little energy, I made it cleanly through the 1600, then just lost my drive.  Tried some of the rest but couldn't get anything under 5:40 mile pace.  I think I am beat up, which makes sense.  Building mileage and speed is never a good idea.

PM: A much needed recovery run, then the gym.  5 x 5s: chest, tris, shoulders.  Went up in every category which was invigorating.  Even managed 40 solid dips.  

Knee is sore, but not on the tendon, so the pain is mostly compensatory at this point in my extremely doctoral opinion. ;)

PM: Horribly rainy.  I only got through a couple of miles before I packed it in.  I just couldn't see and my sneakers were getting soaked and it was dark.  Very uncomfortable.  

Went to the gym instead- arms, back, forearms.  Happy I did something productive.

PM: Shake out run.

I have been reviewing my run logs and what made me successful in early Fall.  It seems when I spent the majority of the time [I thought] screwing around/running during Tues/Thurs morning track at 10k/half paces [as opposed to my normal max effort] to push the other runners instead of myself, I inadvertantly progressed my own running by going slower than full sustainable effort.  I think the specific pacing was essential for my success at the 15k and half distances.

So I see it like this.  I think I'm going to keep my mileage around 85-90.  Initially I wanted to blast past that.  Instead, once I reach that, I'll incorporate a true progressive or tempo run during or ending a long run on Sundays.  Keep Tuesday as track stuff.  Make Thursday or Friday another session of either fartlek, specific race pace, more track, or time-interval sessions.  Switch the quality to more manageable and specific paces.  Then lastly, do doubles to break up my fitness/recovery runs and (hopefully) recover better as a result.

Thoughts, Drew?!

Race report- BDR Safety Harbor half

Came in feeling out of shape. Was shooting for a 1:19-1:20, as other than running a short-course 5k, and a couple ofrandom sub 6:00 miles last Sunday during a long run, I had done zero speed work since November and not to mention I should throw out the entire month of December for the pathetic running I managed. So I shot for 5:55-6:05 pace for every mile and figured I could get away with that and feel healthy.

The race: a group of 10 or so of us labored through the first two miles. Wait. I labored. Them? They did not. Fuck them. By mile 4 the group had shrunk to 5 with me still at the back. Bringing up the rear. Being the ass of everyone's joke. By mile 5 the group had shrunk to 3 and I had a weird feeling that I somehow had a shot at winning this if I raced it right. This was a surprise. I decided to start (attempting to) dictate the pace at about mile 6, and by the time it had settled as low as 5:38 per mile the group was still annoyingly together, I knew right then I had made a tactical mistake. My pace suffered, I suffered, and in the end the other two guys finished about 30 and 60 seconds ahead of me respectively.

I did not think I had this race in me though. I certainly had no reason to run a sub 1:16 given my fitness. The negative split was also a shock. I planned on blowing up a bit after starting a little below 5:55, not to end up averaging a 5:48 per mile. I'm proud of my effort and VERY thankful to have those two awesome runners with me the whole way. It felt communal. Hopefully I can work harder and catch up to them if I see them again. I missed that feeling.

Mile splits- 5:58, 5:50, 5:54, 5:55, 5:48, 5:43, 5:45, 5:41, 5:39, 5:38, 5:44, 5:49, 5:54, 0:38

1st half split- 38:20

2nd half split- 37:36