The Next Step

Happy 4th of July!  Today is my daughter's birthday so got out before everyone got up and started the days activities.  It was cloudy and warm (68) this morning.  I felt pretty good getting started but was a little stiff.  I just took it real easy for a recovery run.  It was real quite this morning and not many people out so it was nice just taking in everything.  Turned out to be a very relaxing run.  Now off to the family activites.

57:51 (8:15 avg)

Traveled back home last night and woke up to a beautiful morning (68, sunny, light wind).  Took advantage of having the day off and did my long run today.  I felt pretty good getting started and ran easy.  I am trying to get in a habit of starting my long runs off easy and then running faster the last half.  Today I ran the first half at around 7:56 pace and ran the last half at 7:41 pace.  It felt good to pick it up a little bit as I went along and then ran the last couple of miles around 7:25 pace.  Over the next few weeks I am going to try to bump up my long run distance and get back to doing some 20 milers. 

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

15 miles in 1:57:07 (7:48 avg)

PM:  Walked a couple of miles with my wife then ran with my daughter.  It was good to get the legs moving again after the long run this morning.

Last day in Huntsville and it was another hot morning.  I missed yesterday with a bunch of business meetings and then trying to do some things with the family.  I felt pretty good this morning so decided to do a progression run.  I just picked up the pace as I went along and ended up running a couple of miles at MP and then the last mile at tempo around (6:38).  It felt good to run faster and the legs seemed to respond.  I have been feeling a little run down the last few days so it was good to have a better run today.

52:50 (7:33 avg)

Huntsville, Al:  It was warm (73) and sunny but didn't feel too humid today.  I was stiff and had a hard time getting loosened up this morning.  After a few miles it started to feel better and I picked up the pace and ran a couple of miles at MP.  The MP miles felt pretty easy but my legs just don't seem to have any zip in them.  After the MP miles I did 6 x 100m strides to try to shake the legs out.  Yesterday I drove down to Huntsville with the family so maybe spending 8 hours in the car had something to do with the way I felt today.

62:27 (7:49 avg)

It was warm (72) and windy but the humidity is lower so it didn't feel too bad.  I had thought of doing some speedwork this morning but after running the first couple of miles I thought it would be better to just take it easy today.  My legs didn't have much in them.  I just had a hard time getting going this morning.  I have been out of my normal schedule for about the last week and I need to get back into a more normal routine.  I did feel better later in the run and picked it up on a couple of the miles just to shake the legs out. 

I am traveling to Huntsville today but the family is going with me so that will make the trip much better.

1:10:15 (7:48 avg)

My parents were up for the weekend so didn't get out yesterday but got some free time this afternoon so went to Southeastway Park.  It was hot (85) and windy but seems like the humidity was lower.  I just ran some easy loops around the park.  I didn't feel the best running but finally started feeling better about the time I stopped.  I stayed up too late the last few days so running low on sleep which might have something to do with it.  Later in the evening I went back out and ran 1.25 miles with my daughter.  It was a nice evening.