Winning Back What I Lost

Afternoon run on the GB: Beautiful day today w/ clear skies, light winds and temp in the 60's; my quads were still a little sore from Saturday's long hill run; its been I don't how long since I've had legs this sore a couple days after a run, probably since my marathon last August. I was planning on doing a recovery run at an easy pace, somewhere around 7 miles. My first mile was leisurely @ 8:19/mi and a thought just popped into my head, "I know I'm faster than my current 10k PR, why don't I run 6.2 as fast as I can today?" Well that's what I did. I ended up running it in 46:49, a minute and 18 secs better than my PR set in April of last year after I'd been running less than 6 mos. and 1:23 better than the hilly 10k I ran last month. Course= Green Belt from Municipal Park past WS Golf Course to Harris Ranch and back. 80 ft total elev gain and the way out, so its more or less flat.

Mile Splits-

1-8:19

2-7:35

3-7:21

4-7:20

5-7:26

6-7:21

6.2-1:25

7:33/mi pace for 6.2 and half mile cooldown.

Afternoon: I only had time for a quick 1.6 mi (321 ft/3.8% avg) hill run up Shaw Mt and Table Rock Rd and back; made a concerted effort to stay upright while running uphill instead of leaning over at the waist when I get fatigued; 8:41 pace uphill and 7:24 downhill; 8:00 flat; 8:02 pace overall; should be able to get in some easy miles tonight.

Evening:  6+ miles on the TM tonight; nothing special; 8:15 mi pace.

Easy lunchtime recovery run on the GB; almost didn't make it out today as a light rain started while I was getting ready and the doppler radar didn't look too promising; then I remembered that I wasn't wearing a skirt or playing some sissy sport like tennis; so I strapped on my big boy pants and toughed it out for six easy miles @ 8:45 mi pace; kept my heart rate between 150-154 the whole way which is quite an accomplishment for me; usually I get a little frustrated during my recovery and/or long slow runs and insist on trying prove something to myself.

Afternoon: Beautiful day for a run; I felt very strong today and a bit lighter; either my legs are getting stronger or I'm finally starting to get off this 175 lb plateau I've been on for almost a month; 8:05 pace.

Long, slow out and back run from Municipal Park to the Diversion Dam above the Hwy 21 Bridge; A rather steady rain for about the 1st half of the run left me soaked; Opting out was not an option as I really needed to get in some longer runs to prepare for the Ogden Marathon next month; leisurely pace of 8:55 overall w/ some quicker pickups in the middle miles.

This is the second year in a row that my son and I have run in this race to benefit the student scholarship program at Boise State Univ.  Last year, Coach Pete barely beat Martin and he was really gunning for the Coach this year.  He finished in about 25:30 (no official time).  On my Garmin, the course measured 3.04 miles. 

I went out rather fast for me and ran the first mile in 6:45; I held onto that pace until roughly the halfway mark when I began to suck wind something awful- ran the second mile in 6:56; I kept telling myself that its only 3 miles and to kick it in gear but I had nothing left;  I was passed by a half dozen runners in the last mile which kind of irked me but I couldn't do anything about it- 3rd mile in 7:16. 

I felt like I was capable of running it in 20 minute+ range, but I guess yesterday's 14 mile training run in the rain took more out of me then I thought.  All in all, just a fun event that my son and I will do every year.  He has been looking forward to getting his revenge and beating Coach Pete.  He improved his time and, most importantly, he was able to get the "I Beat Coach Pete" T-shirt to wear to school on Monday.