Ten Miles

Another week of training in the books, and this one was the best of the year so far. My two weekday runs went well: each at 45 minutes and over 5 miles (5.1 and 5.2 respectively). I decided against doing the Elk Grove Run for Hunger 10K based on the high temperatures we had at the end of the week. May have been the wrong move as it was coolish when I got up Saturday morning.

Things were still cool when I got going after walking the dogs. Although my original plan for the day was to run 85 minutes, I decided that if I felt good enough that I'd go for 90. With that in mind, I added an extra loop around the 2.5 mile mark of the run which would mean that I'd hit the long climb later in the run (and that I'd have a longer climb). I got off to a good start, and I completed each of the first five miles in under 9 minutes (my best mile was actually the third at 8:50). I slowed a bit as the climb wore on me, but I don't think any of my miles were over 9:30 (and I'm not sure any went over 9:20). I ended with a faster pace than last week's 80 minute run (9:05 this week compared to 9:15), and I completed ten miles in 90 minutes and 45 seconds. As such, I completed over one and a third miles more than last week.

It's good to have completed a ten mile run already. I was looking at the schedule for the Urban Cow Half Marathon, and if I wanted to work up to a 14 mile run two weeks prior to the race, I'd need to hit 10 miles by July 25. Now that I've hit that mark four weeks early, I have more confidence that I'll be in half marathon shape in time.