Smooth sailing

Sunny and mid 40s today. Colder than I'd like but two shirts and shorts were enough that I didn't feel it. I went with the clockwise work loop. After an exhausting 3rd birthday weekend for my daughter and a pile of work to catch up on I didn't have the motivation to chase a new best time today. I settled on running a fast tempo pace that wasn't all out and sprinkle in form accelerations for the last 1/4 of each mile.

I settled into a pace that was faster than it felt (always a good thing) and picked up the pace a tad while focusing on my form (chest out, hips level, butt forward, mid-foot strike, core tight) at the end of every mile. It was nice not to be gasping for breath on every hill then trying to catch my breath while my HR was at 90%+. The trail portions weren't too muddy and I even reeled in another runner who was about a quarter mile ahead of me at the end of the trail.

I ended up just under 42 min for the run which surprised me. I feel like my running has moved up a notch when I run at a fast but not suffering pace like I did today and still come in at just under 7:00/mi. average. I'm only doing 25 - 30 miles a week yet I'm running very well (for me). I used to run 40 - 50 miles a week with a few "junk" runs a week that were neither at a fast pace nor a recovery pace. Not hard enough to improve yet not slow enough to recuperate. I must have enjoyed actually running or something. Strange...

Time: 41:46
Dist: 6.0
Avg: 6:58/mi

The rest of the week will hopefully be:
Tue: weights
Wed: intervals
Thu: weights
Fri: recovery run
Sat: off
Sun: Long run (19)