The past few runs (recap)

Thursday (5.3mi, 51min, 9:38/mi avg) I ran a very slow recovery run with a co-worker and didn't worry about pace. I just tried to enjoy the rare occasion of company on a run. He's doesn't run anywhere near the miles I do so he's quite a bit slower. Sometimes it's worth it to trade a faster pace for good conversation.

Friday (9.25mi, 1h 8m, 7:25/mi avg) I planned to run between 11 and 14 miles after work but got a late start and my ankle / Achilles started bothering me so I cut it about half a lap short once I got into the trails. I took a slightly different route out to the Bridle Trails, going almost all the way around them clockwise and entering on the West side of the trail where the horse ring and water fountain are. I had one large water bottle with me and it was a hot enough day that the bottle was almost empty by the time I got to the Park (5 miles). I was holding a pretty good pace, averaging around 7:05/mi at that point despite the hills.

I refilled the bottle and rinsed off my head to cool down and got back onto the trail. I started feeling a little overheated after my brief water stop and had to slow the pace down a little bit to keep from blowing up. It only lasted about a mile and a half until I was ready to push again. I continued CCW around the perimeter of the park and rather than completing another half lap when I got to the NE exit, I just listened to my body and headed back toward work. My ankle has been feeling the odd twinge of soreness from rolling it running a week or so ago. It didn't really bother me at the time but I'll get the occasional reminder that something isn't quite right.

I held a strong pace the rest of the way back to work and ended a few miles short of my goal but happy that I got out for an hour no less.

Sunday (15.2mi, 1h 53m, 7:27/mi avg) I took Saturday as a planned day off and ran my scheduled 15 mile run on Sunday. I didn't have a plan on how to run the 15 miles, tempo, recovery, fartlek, hills, etc... I just wanted the time on my feet and more work for my legs. I felt pretty good as I was getting started so I headed out toward Sehmel drive to repeat the 15 mile run I completed a couple of weeks ago and see if I could run it faster. I hoped to run at least 8 miles in the first hour and then hold or beat that pace for the "and back" part of the route. There were only a few uphills on the "out" so I had little trouble keeping the pace in the low 7 min/mi and even high 6 min/mi range until just after the turn around. I made my 8 miles in the first hour (barely) and started to slow on the return. I had to stop for water earlier than I'd planned due to the heat and my pace.

I had a slower mile or two in the middle and recovered somewhat to pull the pace back down near 7:00/mi for the last 3 miles. Overall it was a good run and about a minute and a half faster than last time I ran this route. I felt like I was pushing the pace a little past the point of comfort the whole run. I'm not very in tune with my pace right now and I'm not sure what I should shoot for at Baker Lake in a month. 5 hours seems pretty conservative. 4:30 (well, 4:29 actually) would be a nice run and 4:15 would be a very good day for me. Tying myself to a distinct time seems silly though. I'm not out to win it and couldn't even if I was. I think I should working on coming up with goals in terms of enjoying myself out there.

Tuesday (6.0mi, 44min, 7:03/mi) I skipped Monday's planned recovery run. How's that for recovery? I felt that I needed to take another day off after hitting 50 miles again last week despite planning to drop my mileage. Tuesday I ran on the treadmill at the gym at work instead of braving the light rain and likely muddy trails around Redmond. I ran a mile of warm up at 8:00/mi and then ran 4 x 1mi with times ranging between 6:10 and 7:00/mi. Again I don't know what I should be running for mile repeat times so I just tested out different speeds. The first one at 6:40 felt pretty hard so I backed off a little for the next two and then started the last one at 7:00/mi pace but started bumping up the speed 0.1 - 0.2 mph every 30 seconds. By the end of the mile I was down into the 5:45/mi range and spraying sweat all over the treadmill as I struggled to keep my legs going. It felt pretty hard and my legs were tired by the end but it was good to get this workout into the books. I do speed work without a specific target pace. I'll have to work the pace out before I find a 10K to run later this year.

Wednesday (5.45mi, 45min, 8:16/mi avg)