Eleven Miles

I got back to running two 50 minute weekday runs this past week. It felt good to get both runs in, and I think if I can keep this up, it'll help my overall performance.

For my weekend run, I decided to add an additional five minutes so that I'd hit 11 miles. Adding the extra time worked, and I covered 11.1 miles in 105 minutes. My pace is still around 9:30 minutes/mile which I slower than I'd desire, but it's certainly working for me.

My plan for the upcoming week will be to do the same as this past week.

Drop Off in Performance

On the plus side for the past week, I did make it out for all three of my planned runs. Unfortunately, none of the runs really went to plan.

Starting with my Monday run, as I got going I didn't quite feel right. I couldn't place what was wrong, but less than a mile in I was oddly sweating, and I never really hit my groove. I bailed on the run midway in after about two and a half miles. I had hoped that maybe I just overdid it on the weekend and that a couple more days of rest would help.

Wednesday's run started off rough as I completed the first mile at a slower pace (20-30 seconds slower) than normal. I felt a bit odd throughout, but I pushed through to complete 50 minutes.

Similiar story on Saturday although my first mile was almost 40 seconds slow. My pace picked up for the next three miles but wasn't normal for any of them. There were a few times I thought about bailing on the run, but I kept going and accepted that I wasn't going to get as much distance in as I did last week. I finished the 100 minutes with 10.4 miles (0.3 less than last week).

I'm still ahead of where I need to be to get ready for the Urban Cow Half Marathon, but in a few weeks that will no longer be the case. I think I will be ok, but it'd be nice to see my performance level out (preferably improve) in the next couple weeks.

Hundred Minutes

The weather cooperated better this week for running, but even as such, I only completed one weekday run (Monday). I went out Wednesday night and had planned to run Thursday night, but things did not work out. I did 50 minutes Monday night.

Saturday I decided I'd try to do 100 minutes (5 more than last week) unless I was making much better time than last week (in which case I might cut it off at 95). I completed the first four miles in good time, but after the fifth I knew it was unlikely that I'd be beating last week's run. So I decided to add in some extra hill work for the additional 5 minutes. Not sure I really needed extra hills, but it was a convenient spot to add to the run.

Overall, I completed 10.7 miles. I would have preferred 11.1 (a 9:00 pace), but I can accept 10.7. My plan for the upcoming week is to keep the weekday runs at 50 minutes and the weekend run at 100. Hopefully I can more distance in the 100 minutes next week.

A Week of Heat

The past week was not a great one for running. The highs for Monday through Wednesday ranged between 105 and 110, and it did not cool off much in the evening. I ended up taking the dogs out for walks around 9:30 to let the sun go fully down and let the temperatures go down a little, but doing so eliminated any time for a run unless I pretty much wanted to have to go straight to bed afterwards. As such, I didn't get in any midweek runs this week.

Since I was unable to run during the week and I had Friday off as a holiday from work, I chose to do my long run for the week on Friday. It was overcast when I headed out, and my first four miles went well. But sure enough, just as I was starting the uphill portion of the run, the clouds broken up, and I got to do the hard part of the run in the direct sun. I think the big change in situation had an impact on my pace, and I lost ~15 seconds per mile. It became obvious to me after a few more miles that I would not do as well as last week, so I decided that I would have to run for an extra 5 minutes this week. In the end, I ran for 95 minutes and covered 10.25 miles. I think moving forward if I'm in the situation where I can't beat my pace from the previous week that I'll need to run an extra 5 minutes.

This week I hope to get back to two weekday runs along with my long weekend run. The forecast currently looks like it will cooperate. Hopefully running on Friday instead of Saturday will give my legs some extra rest for the week.