Fly me to the moon...

This run felt really smooth and relaxed.  The stride felt really smooth with no excess motions and mechanically excellent.  I love those days.  My total time for the 6 miles was 42:33 which is around 7:05/mile pace.  Splits were 7:11, 7:11, 7:06, 7:02, 7:05, and 6:54.  I didn't feel like I was pushing that hard.

Another 6 miles along the trail in the early evening.  Yesterday was a beautiful day and was even a little on the warm side at around 70 degrees.  Today was totally different with low 40s wind and snow.  I'm a little tired of the snow at this point.  As nice, easy and relaxed as yesterday was, today was totally different at least for the first 3 miles.  My legs just wouldn't go.  I felt like my effort was as much or more than yesterday, but I struggled with times in the 7:20s per mile.  Total time was 43:06 for 7:11 pace with splits of 7:22, 7:26, 7:25, 7:01 (downhill with a tailwind), 7:04, and 6:46.

Decided to do a tempo run today. I started with 1.5 warm-up in 11:14 and then started the tempo run with a goal of 6:15/mile. A few weeks ago (Mar. 8) I did one with a pace of about 6:40/mile.  I started out with a 5:58, then 6:07, and 6:11.  The middle mile was with a turnaround and was probably faster and felt okay.  The last mile was a little bit of a struggle to hold that pace.  Overall I am pleased with my progress.  I still need a lot more base though.  I finished with 1.5 cool-down.

The plan was to do 6 along the trail, but I felt good and had some extra time so I decided to go a little farther.  My total time for the 7 was 50:20 for a pace of 7:11/mile.  My splits were 7:20, 7:15, 7:10, 7:10, 7:10, 7:06, and 7:05.

Just 6 easy along the trail in the afternoon.  I wanted to go slower, but I felt worse going slower than at a little faster speed.  My quads were tired by about 3 miles and felt sore.  I don't know if it was from the long week or the increased foot strike of a slower pace, but they were tired.  Total time was 43:54 for a 7:19/mile pace.  My splits were 7:22, 7:20, 7:20, 7:20, 7:15, and 7:15.

It was warm and windy.  The first 4 miles were nice with predominantly a tailwind.  Then I turned around...  I tried going the opposite direction away from the lake today.  I didn't like it after about 3 miles when you turn on University.  It is completely open and right along the highway.  I ran out 4 that direction and then turned around and did a half in the other direction and headed home.  It was a nice run.  My legs felt sore and tired after about 3 again.  I think it is just fatigue and lactic acid build-up from my tempo run on Wednesday.  My time was 1:04:59 for 7:13/mile pace.  My splits were 7:33, 7:20, 7:19, 7:09, 7:06, 7:11, 7:08, 7:05, and 7:04.