Turn your rut into a groove.

pm--6.5 So yesterday, I decided that I would jump into personal 5k training this week. A mile time trial sounded like a good way to gauge some sort of initial fitness. My stomach was feeling jacked as I started to run but mellowed as I hit the track. I did one lap of agilities prior to the mile. Going into something like this is a bit intimidating. I caught my breath and went. I hit 1:25 through 400 and knew that I wanted to hit each 200 in the low :40s. After 800, I was ready to bail but fought to keep pushing and came through 1200 @ 4:20. I hung on through half of the last lap and tried to hammer it on the final 200. It didn't happen as well as planned, although I was able to push much of the last 100. I ended @ 5:50.07. Pretty happy. I was shooting for 5:45, but anything under 6:00 would have made me happy. I ran one more lap to try to catch my breath and then cooled a little around the neighborhood. Here's to more hard efforts in the next few months to come.

RHR--53

pm--7 Easy miles. The body was a bit sore, but the run encouraged homeostasis.

RHR--55

pm--7.5 Tonight was the 1st in what will become a weekly routine--mile repeats. It was 4 x mile tonight. Earlier, I tried to be helpful to my wife and parents, so I didn't get out for a run before the light dwindled. Consequently, I defaulted to the tready @ 1.5% incline. Which is somewhat comparable to the grass or grass/dirt loop that I hoop to use for this going forward. My 85% pace is ~7:00 min./mile. It felt decent as far as the breathing went, but the legs had to get moving. That seems like 1 of the greatest benefits to this workout--getting used to what the body feels like at higher speeds. Anyway, the run tonight felt good. Now for some trailrunning and elevation work the rest of the week.

RHR--47

am--7.5 Thanksgiving trail run. Normally this happens over on the Barrel Roll, but today Tom and I did Moe's via Zen. It was a nice run. Lots of folks are out exercising on Thanksgiving. Perhaps it's a time where we are grateful and self-reflective.

RHR--57

pm--5.5 A shorter run w/ 4 miles @ a steady-state pace--7:20s. Felt pretty good. I'm loving the week so far.

am--9 Barrel Roll w/ Sidewinder. ~1,000 feet of accumulated elevation on this run. It felt good to be out in the hills w/ the mobs of mountain bikers and the crazies shooting guns. Nice week overall.