Long May You Run

7 miles on the track 7:43 ave.  Nice little progression run 8:56  8:29  8:34  8:29  8:17  7:59

After logging 20 yesterday I felt pretty good.  

6 miles out and back from home.  9:12 pace.  Didn't feel like running but forced myself out the door.  Just glad to get this one done.  Nice clear, cold sunny day.

slow slog home.  Worked late, as usual on a Monday, glad it's done.  Time to sleep it off and hit it again in the morning.

5.15 am miles light snow and ice, wore my old clunky trainers

4.5 pm miles

4.65 am miles

4.65 pm miles  running very slow, like 9:30 pace.  I feel physically run down.  I'm just going to grind through it.

6.15 am miles 8:44 ave pace.  Finally felt good enough to run faster than 9:30 pace.  What a relief.

4.65 pm miles  I would normally run at least 10 but i'm still a little tired and I don't want to kill off my rest.  Racing Saturday, oh boy, I'm so excited.  (heavy sarcasm)

4.9 am miles   Race tomorrow, oh joy!  Looking at it like a hard run

.With the wind out, headwind in.  Ran With Paul Fulton (prlman) and we worked together on the way back, taking turns drafting.  Thanks Paul, you helped me improve my time over last year.  This was a fun way to run this race, working together with another runner makes for a rewarding effort.  Paul gapped me at the 6 mile point, i couldn't hang on to him any longer.  Fittingly, the stronger running took home the 3rd place ribbon.  Congratulations Paul.  I kind of hope the next race is windy too, I really enjoyed this.

6:48  6:51  6:46  7:04  7:02  6:52 1:26 (7:10 pace the last .2)

Ave pace 6:53

5 easy miles on the track 8:57 ave pace.  Put on the Crocs for the first time in a while, felt nice to be back in them.  Will be wearing them more frequently.

no watch, easy run home from work

6.15 am miles  8:25 pace  felt strong this morning, 1st time in a while.

4.65 pm miles  8:47 pace  didn't feel as strong this evening, but I'm happy to be out of the 9-9:30 death pace.

20 miles at the track  2:39:51  7:59:55 pace.  Not often I do a 20 miles where the average pace is sub 8, so I didn't round this up.

I ran the last 8 miles pretty hard.  My goal was to run the first 5 around 8:45ish, next five would be a progresstion to 8:00 and then I would continue a progression over the next 10 reducing each mile by 5 seconds so my las mile would be 7:10.

Didn't happen, once I hit about 7:35 I couldn't go faster.  I had to work very hard to maintain that pace to the end.  The last 5 of this run was very much like a race, I had to focus, relax, push and "mantra" my way over those last miles.  One heck of a workout for sure.

8.45  8.23  8.24  8.25  8.29  8.08  8.10  8.05  8.01  8.05  8.00  7.52  7.47  7.35  7.38  7.42  7.37  7.36  7.35  7.33

4th 20 miler in this training cycle.

Beautiful day today, the news said 60° today, it was probably 50° when I ran between 9-11:30am.  Rain prior to my run.

3 miles on the track  9:41 ave pace.  My legs are ZAPPED.  that 20 miler yesterday really was like a race.

out and back from home 2:03:46  8:50 ave

4.65 miles straight home 39:25  8:29 pace

5.15 am miles  8:23 ave pace

4.65 pm miles  8:42 ave pace

4.9 am miles  8:34 pace

10.3 pm miles 9:34 pace  B Street rout, 11th ave, Capitol, home

this run killed me.  I felt very sick when I got home, couldn't eat, I though I was coming down with the flu.  I'm writing this the day after, I feel pretty good now.

5.15 am miles 9:06 pace

4.65 pm miles 8:49 pace

feeling much better today, I wanted to go 10 this evening but i'm still not quite right.

6.15 am miles 8:30 pace  finally felt pretty good

PR'd by 9 seconds.  I'me excited about this.  I had no reason to believe I had a PR in me based on my 5 and 10k performance.  I was frustrated about my 5 and 10k times because I thought my training wasn't a good as I thought it was.  This race is a real confindence booster for me.  I thought my age was outpacing my training and I was now on the inevitable downward slope. Maybe not?

Racing with Paul had a lot to do with my performance, we were together the whole way and I was inspired to hang with him.

6:55  7:00  6:55  6:52  7:02  6:51  6:53  6:52  6:47  1:59 (6:37)

This is one of my best races, I felt strong during the whole race.  I've never felt this way before and I've never had a kick that was my fastest mile (extrapolated).  

I took a GU at the halfway point, I've never done this before at this distance, I think it helped a lot.  (Thanks Paul, great advice)

6 miles out and back from home.  9:30 ave  Time to pile on the mileage.

4.65 miles 39:55  8:35 ave pace.  Breaking in a new pair of Crocs.  They are kind of slick and waxey, that will wear off soon.

6.15 am miles 8:28 ave pace

8.65 pm miles approx 8:45 pace, 4 miles on the track.

6.15 am miles 8:42 pace

4.65 pm miles  8:25 pace

6.15 am miles 8:25 pace

10.3 pm miles B Street, 11th Ave, Capitol, home.  I was way under dressed for this run.  If I had taken water resistent gloves with me this morning I would have been much better off.  I knew there was going to be afternoon rain, I don't know what I was thinking.  I ran strong trying to get warm.  I was in bad shape when I got home.  I had to cut this run short, I had planned 16 miles.

9:01 ave