Freethinker ~ Freerunner

I ran speed intervals this morning that I got from Runners World.

8x500's 4 at 6:20 and 4 at 6:10.  The first four were run at my 5k race pace and the last four were run ten seconds faster.  I ran one mile to warm up and .85 miles to cool down.  I walked for 30 seconds between each of the first four and about 40 to 45 seconds between each of the last four. 

Splits:

Time     Pace

1:58      6:17

1:56      6:22

1:58      6:17

1:57      6:24

Last 4

Time   Pace

1:56     6:11

1:54     6:13

1:53     6:07

1:54     6:11

 I'm not sure why the pace for some of these splits is different for the same time, but these are the results that my Garmin recorded.  Hmmm...makes you wonder about the accuracy. 

I ran an easy ten this morning, and I kept it real easy with an 8:03 AP. My legs felt tired and my back felt a little sore.  It must have something to do with the two yards I cut yesterday on my day off.  I guess I'm still getting adjusted to the extra work.  I'm looking forward to my two rest days.  I may swim some laps tomorrow if I'm not kept at work too late.    

I did some speed work today by way of a one mile warmup followed by three 1600's and then a .63 mile cool down.  The goal was to do better than my 5k race pace.  I accomplished the goal so far as two of the splits are concerned.  On the third one I just had nothing left and fell a little short.  I have one week to go before the Full Moon 5k, and I would really like to best my time last year of 19:34. 

Splits:

6:09

6:14

6:28

I ran 14 this morning at a nice easy 8:08 AP.  I think I was still feeling the lingering effects of the three 1600's that I ran yesterday at slightly faster than my 5K race pace.  I knew I was not going for any speed records this morning so I only brought Gatorade instead of Gu and Gatorade.  I probably should have brought some Gu anyway, because I really started feeling drained somewhere around miles ten or eleven.   

I re-injured my right foot.  Several hours after my run on Sunday I started to feel a gradual increasing soreness and pain in my arch.  It feels very similar to the micro-tears my my doctor told my I had in the ligament of my right foot last May, only I did not ever feel the ligament tighten up like it was about to snap during my run.  I have decided to take some time off.  I got a sports massage tonight courtesy of my wife's well timed anniversary gift idea that I'm hoping will help. 

Hopefully the pain is gone by Saturday in time for the Full Moon 5k.  I'm thinking I will rest until then and gradually ease back into running after that.  

I am overall really happy with my results.  I originally planned to PR, which would have required a time of 19:33, but all things considered I'm quite happy with a second best time.  The things I'm considering are a strained ligament in my right arch from an old injury that I re-aggravated last weekend and thus had to rest for 7 days leading up to the race.  I have never taken that many days off prior to a race, and I did not know how my foot was going to feel once I got going.  Fortunately I'm happy to report that it felt fine throughout the course, but just to play it safe I'm going to take a few more days off.

I love this course because it is so flat.  It runs out and back along Riverside drive and the view of the sun setting beyond the river is extraordinary on the route back to the finish.  

Pyromania, the Def Leppard tribute band, after the race was awesome and there was plenty of beer to go around as always.  Kevin was able to join us this year since he stayed home with the kids last year so that Ashley could run.  Alisha's friend Chandra and her fiance Kyle were also there.  I finally got the opportunity to meet Kyle and Chandra's brother in-law John who has run 8 marathons in past couple of years.  John was really excited to talk about running the New York City marathon and is looking forward to running it again.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again.   

Brick workout.  I had not taken the bike out since December 2nd.  I felt like something easy today after the race last night, so I decided I go for an easy ride.  About half way through the nine mile ride I decided to make this workout a brick.  I ran 1.5 miles and felt really great.  It was nice and sunny at 78 degrees with a slight breeze.

I think I'll take tomorrow off and then get out to Turkey Mountain on Tuesday for some trail running.  

Turkey Tuesday.  I ran over five today with Kevin on Turkey Mountain.  It was good to get back out on the trails.  I'm pretty sure the last  time I ran the trails was before the Post Oak Trail run in February.  

I ran an easy 4 this morning at a 7:54 AP.  This was my first run in ten days.  I decided to ease up for a little while before marathon training.  I'm planning on running an easy ten in the morning, and then we'll see what the rest of the holiday weekend has in store.  I'm just going to play it by ear.  

I ran ten this morning, which I am unable to refer to as an easy ten since I was off for ten days prior to the four mile run I completed yesterday.  I felt my left knee a little bit as I usually do if I've taken more than about five days off.  I'm may do cross training tomorrow or a brick workout followed by a trail run on Tuesday if there is time. 

I wasn't going to run today, or if I did I was only going to run about 3 miles as part of a brick workout.  I decided at about noon just to run an easy 5 or 6.  I am not really accustomed to running in the heat yet since I do a majority of my runs early so the 88 degrees was quite a nice test.  I kept the pace easy at 8:19.

I started out this morning not knowing exactly how far I wanted to run.  After about one mile I decided that I would run for an hour instead of focusing on a distance.  I think I will focus all of my workouts on time for the next couple of weeks rather than distance.  It is nice to be able to just run sometimes. 

I ran an 8:15 AP.  The temperature was a very nice 68 degrees.  We had some storms come through last night that cooled everything off a little. 

I have been so fortunate to have nice cool mornings yesterday and today.  The temperature was 65 with winds of about 10 to 20 miles per hour.  I woke up at 5:15 for some reason, which is 45 minutes earlier than I usually wake up.  I went ahead and got my run out of the way early.  I think I might go back to running at 5:30 instead of 6:30 on weekdays.  It is so nice get back home and have a couple of hours to relax before I have to leave for work.