The Long Run

2.94 mi, 25:49, 8:48 avg

Short run day, a little bit of warm up, then out and back to the gate followed by 10x25 second strides with 50 second easy jog between.  I did not get below 6:00 on the first two but the remaining 8 were between 5:13 and 5:54.  One of them did have 4:54 for "best pace".  I don't think I have ever run a 400m at faster than 1:15 (only tried once a long time ago).  Might make me go faster if I try and break my record.   Running these strides usually makes my "easy run" pace a little bit faster the next day.

5.78 mi, 46:50, 8:06 avg

For today's run, I ran out to the new park, ran two laps around the lake there and then ran back home.  When I got to the lake I did not look at my pace while running, but decided to run the first lap at about the pace I had just been running, and then beat the pace on the second lap.  After I got home, saw that I ran the first lap at 8:23 pace and the second lap at 7:12.  

Last mile was at 7:25.

9.08 mi, 1:14:04, 8:09 avg

Ran from my house to Starkey Blvd, stopping at the little church, then ran out and back just past the bridge a little bit.  When I woke up I didn't think it was going to be this cool and it felt even cooler than I thought it would.   I brought a gel with me and a 10 oz water bottle.  The water bottle had a small leak in it which squirted out a tiny stream of water when I squeezed it, so upon learning this new fact I stopped squeezing the water bottle.  First two miles were slower, then third mile was 8:29, then I got going a little faster with the next 5 going from 7:57 down to 7:21.

I had decided to not do my fast mile on my way down Starkey Blvd.  However, as I approached back to my neighborhood I started going faster and was at about a 7:00 pace.  The gate was closed almost shut so I had to stop and open it, so my pace dropped but there was still time to make it up.  So, I did and finished the last mile 6:43.  But, I wasn't trying to do a fast mile and I didn't have that feeling that I was going all out and taxing myself.  It felt like an old feeling of fitness returning.  I've been running some different things and trying to make each run a little different and throwing in some challenges and it might be working.

3.33 mi, 27:32, 8:16 avg

Short run to get something in and wanted to run it not too slow.  Last mile 7:36 pace, and final 0.33 at 7:04 pace.  Ran from my house to a little bit past the water fountain on the golf course (but I haven't actually gotten to use that fountain in quite some time other than as a landmark to run a 3ish mile run).