Where's the Donuts?

Longest run of the training season so far, we'll crank it up from here. Felt pretty good though, and an improvement on last weekend's 5 miler. I'm still running everything at an easy pace, with a few striders here and there. 

Lazy Sunday. I tried some variations on a route, without timing the run. It ended up with more hills than usual, but I took it pretty easy and enjoyed the sunshine. 

Good run, easy to medium pace, felt really refreshed after a day off. Added a few striders, and hopefully soon I'll incorporate a true workout. 

Another good day, I'm at the point where this distance is very comfortable and I can push the pace on easy days. 

 Good run today, finished off with 4 striders at the end. I missed Thursday so I ended the week a bit short of the mileage I wanted, but my legs are feeling much fresher than a few weeks ago and on hills (which are plentiful through my normal routes) I feel stronger. I'm planning 9 for Monday as I begin to increase mileage, and I'm going to try and work in some up-tempo work next week as well.  

Good run today, both in terms of how I felt and overall progress. I hit a trail that goes to the high point in the county, and the softer footing felt great for my legs. Eight is my longest run so it was good to get past that milestone, but it was also good for pushing myself. The weather was rainy and windy, and the trail was pretty hilly with some long stretches. Pushing through that in bad weather, sloppy footing and unknown hills was good for me mentally. Obviously I picked up the pace coming down, so I got to stretch my legs and push my heartrate a bit. Even going up I was able to keep a good pace. Now that I'm home eating lunch, the sun's coming out. Of course. 

One of my standard loops, a few little surges, nothing too taxing but not too lazy either. 

Another good run on my usual loop (Manette Bridge to Bachman Park and back through Evergreen Park). I'm comfortable with this distance now, maybe even too comfortable, but I'm trying to hold myself back and be very conservative as I build up my mileage.  I have to keep reminding myself it's still very early in my season.

Not a real exact distance today, since I just went out and wandered around some neighborhoods at an easy pace for 40 minutes or so. I initially planned for more miles, but I didn't have much pep and let the rainy Sunday morning get the best of me. Mileage will increase again this week, though slowly because I'm still feeling the aches and pains of getting into shape.

A variation on one of my regular runs, still trying to come up with more options so I don't get stuck on the same loop over and over. Yesterday I had felt a twitch in my knee, the same knee that had ITBS last fall, but today everything was fine. Feeling in shape and strong now, I can tell my fitness is improving.