Weather - 48 degrees, sunny.
Instead of waiting until dusk to take my run, I decided to run at 2:00 pm so that I could get the most warmth out of the day. It felt pretty nice out there, and the leaves on the trees are at their best right now, a luminous cloth of bright colors which shades the world in a soft glow.
Ran around Busey Woods, legs felt 100% today, so it only took 10 days for me to recover from the race.
It is good I am taking a break now because the combination of cold weather and my end of season allergies is potent - it makes me out of breath to run at 8:00/pace. I notice, though, that if I can run very slow for 4 miles, my lungs loosen up and I can then run 7:30 pace with no problem. I did that today, and it felt good to move quicker than normal.
Thinking back to last year, I don't think I overcame my tight lungs until April, when I ran a 19:13 5k in cold, rainy weather. So I will have to run slow for the next 5 months. Kind of depressing, and I am thinking about not racing until then. I tried some races last year in the winter, and I had poor results each time.
My best months are July and August. When I was in Door County running my 100 mile week I ran consistently at 6:30 pace with more ease than my current 9:00 minute miles. I also ran my best 12k in early August, averaging 6:44 pace on hilly trails.
Knowing the above, I think I should only race May-August, May and June for tune-up races, and July and August for the real thing. For the remaining months only slow and steady running because that is all my body will allow.
During the slow months I need to keep myself motivated, so instead of running short and fast, maybe I can concentrate on participating in long, slow ultras. I ran my first ultra 2 weeks ago without having the ability to run fast, but it did not prevent me from running 6 hours at 9:00-10:30 pace.
My 1 year anniversary on this blog is only a couple of weeks away. Since I can only run fast 2 months out of the year, maybe I should call it quits here and just keep a generic blog. Afterall, this is the Fast Running blog, so what is the point of keeping a record of my slow, plodding months. I do like the abililty of this blog to quickly track all months and miles, so maybe I should stay for that reason alone.
After the run 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 30 minute walk home.
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