Every day is a new day

Finally home after four days out of town at meetings.  Enough meetings that I only had the chance to run twice both during breaks, only got into mild trouble for returning late to the meeting room.

Oddly enough my legs felt sluggish today, even after two days rest.  That turned into annoying almost painlike conditions after half an hour.  Not real bad so chugged along ending up with 7.5 miles in 1:04 for about a 8:40 pace.  Glad the run was over but more glad that I had made it through.

Seemed like time for a tempo run.  For some reason I find this my hardest workout to get started on. I expect it to be harder than it usually is.

Anyway ran a 2.2 mile warm up in 20:00, then into  tempo mode for 5 miles in 38:20 for a 7:39 average.  A quick 1.1 mile cool down finished it off.

Really nice sunny day with temps in the high 30's.  Decided a short long run was all I had time for today.  Overnight snow had melted in most areas by the time I started my run.

Ran 9.6 miles in 1:26 for a 8:57 pace with an average HR of 139. Just about exactly where I wanted to end up.

I decided a another hard day this week would be too much so I compromised, I ran 6.1 easy miles at 8:56 average and one mile at 6:30.  Good workout especially running the fast mile in the middle at 2.5 mph faster.  Really points out the differences between easy and upper limit miles.

Since I plan on entering the local race tomorrow, either the 5 or 10K not sure which, I decided that an easy 45 minute five miler was good preperation either way and would not overtax the legs.  Snowing again so I ran on the treadmill helping ease the strain on my legs. With snow on the ground do not expect to run race like speeds tomorrow, but none the less it will work as the beginning of a good workout. Ave HR 133.

Clear, cold but sunny morning for the March 5K local run. A much larger crowd than the last race with at least 12 runners this time. It was about 25 degrees when the gun went off. Most of the runners were high school kids. This out and back course was mainly flat with a series of small hills.

I was a little surprised to go by the mile marker in 7:22 and the half way point in 11:11. I felt more tired than the time indicated. Forced myself to keep a steady pace but knew I was not quite as fast on the return trip.

Still ended up with a new PR of 22:52 although the course end up long at 3.188 miles and my actual 5K time by GPS was a 7:15 average pace for 22:28. Either way I was satisfied with the end result.  I did manage to run a little more even pace this time, by the GPS:

1st  mile    7:01

2nd  mile   7:19

3rd mile    7:24

.1 mile       0:44

Actual 3.1 mile time 22:28. Average HR for the race 164.