The Next Step

Nice fall afternoon (68) and sunny but pretty windy.  I just did a real easy recovery run today.  I thought after the long run yesterday it might help to get out and do a few easy miles today and flush out the legs.  I felt ok but a little stiff.  Not as bad as the week before.  Now off to teach youth group tonight then watch the Colts. 

41:10 (8:14 avg)

Definitely felt like a fall day this morning.  It was 55 and very windy.  I felt pretty good this morning but was a little tired from staying up and watching the Colts game last night.  Legs still had some stiffness from the long run on Saturday but felt better after a couple of miles.  Ran out and back along 200 S.  Went out with the wind and came back into the wind.  Kept the pace about the same both ways but more effort coming back into the wind. 

1:18:03 (7:49 avg)

Really felt like fall this morning.  It was 52, cloudy and very windy.  The wind made it feel colder than it really was.  I planned to do a tempo run this morning.  I wanted to do 5 miles at around 6:40 pace.  I ran a couple of miles to get warmed up and felt ok but legs still felt tired and heavy.  After the 2 mile warmup started the tempo and here are the splits:

1st - 6:42

2nd - 6:35

3rd - 6:30

4th - 6:23

5th - 6:17

Turned out to be a good workout.  I was very happy that I was able to lift the pace each mile and I felt pretty relaxed on all but the last mile.  The last mile was dead back into a head wind so I pushed pretty hard on that one.  So 5 miles in 32:27 for an average of 6:29 per mile.  I ran an 8k race back in Aug and my avg pace was 6:31 so this makes me feel like I am making good progress because it was a great day today with the wind and I definitely didn't run this as hard as a race. 

8m in 56:45 (7:05 avg)

It was a great morning for running today (52, calm).  I was slow getting going this morning.  Just felt tired.  I felt ok running but my legs were heavy and still don't feel very fresh.  I also noticed some soreness in my legs the last few miles.  This could be left over from the long run over the weekend.  I guess it is just getting adjusted to the higher mileage recently.  Hopefully, I will get used to it and have some better days.

1:42:59 (7:56 avg)

Had to break out the gloves and long sleeves this morning.  It was 41 but luckily no wind.  I felt pretty good this morning and just did an easy run through Fox Cove neighborhood.  It was a beautiful morning once the sun came up and that made it feel warmer.  I still have some soreness in my left quad.  I need to take "the stick" to it and see if I can work the soreness out of it. 

7m in 54:00 (7:43 avg)

PM:  Went down to Southeastway Park and run around the park through the trails.  I just ran easy but went to the hill and ran 8 x hill sprints towards the end.  I felt pretty good but the hill sprints were tough since I haven't done them in awhile.

6m in 50:48 (8:28 avg)

We had some storms move through last night but luckily it had stopped raining this morning.  It felt cool because it was pretty windy but temp was 53.  I felt better this morning but started off real easy running around 8:30 for the first couple of miles then picked up the pace gradually and felt good toward the finish.  Planning a long run tomorrow so didn't want to do to much today. 

1:11:17 (7:56 avg)

It was cool (52) and windy (20mph) fall day. I slept in longer than I wanted so had to cut my run short so that I could get back for a busy day of family activities. Finally a morning where I felt good. The last couple of weeks my legs have just felt tired running but today it seemed easy which is a good feeling. I started off easy but since I was feeling good started picking up the pace and just gradually picked it up until 15 miles and decided to run the last 3 miles at MP. The last three felt good running around 7:10 pace and ran the last mile in 6:55. The last couple of long runs had me down a little but this helped pick the confidence back up.

2:18:04 (7:40 avg)