Two Week Post!

This blog entry will be a two week combined entry. I forgot to enter last week, and by the time I realized it, it was better to just combine the two.

Last week went extremely well with the exception of the long run. My runs were as follows:

Monday: 3.3 miles @ 9:21 pace. It was very windy and hot where I was running. I was out of town, so didn't know the exact route, which didn't help matters. The run frankly kicked my butt.

Wednesday: 4.1 miles @ 8:04 pace. This run went much better, and I felt I could have gone quite a bit faster.

Thursday: 4.0 miles @ 7:43 pace. The first 5k I could have pushed the run faster. I let off in the beginning starting at the previous days pace.

Friday: 5.0 miles @ 8:25 pace. Again, this run went extremely well. I could have run faster, but had a long run planned for Saturday so didn't want to push it too much.

Saturday: Rained all day long. Ran 5.0 miles @ 9:14 pace on treadmill. I was not prepared to try and run the long run on the treadmill and couldn't get going. Not tired, just bored.

It had become apparent this past week that my training has been improving my times by a considerable margin in the past couple months. My 5k times are now below 24 minutes, and my 10k times are in the 52 minute or under range.

As for my ankle, it also became apparent that I have been favoring my other leg because of the discomfort. My ankle still is a little sore, but the calf on the same side now will tighten up. I've been doing more of my fast runs on the treadmill because its softer. The Harvest Stompede is two weeks away, so the last thing I want to do is blow out the ankle.

As for this week, the good runs have continued. Today's long run was a little different, but well get to that.

Monday - Intervals. Did 5 x 800 with the interval at 7:15 pace and the cooldown (400 m) @ 11:00 pace.

Thursday - 4.0 miles @ 7:43 pace. Great run. Took break Tuesday/Wednesday due to ankle issues.

Friday - 4.0 miles @ 8:04 pace. Could have run faster and further but long run on Saturday.

Saturday - 8.0 mile TART trail run with Corey. We didn't get out until around noon. During the run, the temp climbed into the high 70's/low 80's. Corey and I ran the run together the first 4 miles, and did it in 46:54. The last 4 miles was actually harder due to the heat, and we had split up at that moment. I ran that 4 mile section in 43:16. If my addition is correct, the time for the total run was 1:30; a pace of about 11:21. Included in this time was a 4 minute rest break Corey took at the end of the first 4 miles.

Next week, the long run goes up to 9 miles. We will be doing this run on a flat course. I have talked to my wife also about doing the runs much earlier in the day, so we don't run into the oppressive heat. We will see how that goes. The following week in the Harvest Stompede so we will have to split up the runs that weekend to reach the long run goal.