Scott's Running Blog

I ran a 1 mile warmup at 8:57 pace and then 5 miles at 7:30 pace, with the last fifth of a mile at just under 7:00 pace. Total time was 46:30, for an average of 7:45.

I wish I had more faith in my ability to run at this pace. The run wasn't too challenging, but running on a treadmill is always easier than running outside. I can't wait for the weather to clear up some so that I can push during some outside runs. If my 7:30 pace translates to a 7:45 outdoor pace at a similar effort level then I'd be ectatic.

8 oustide miles - finally.  I ran the first 7 pretty easy.  I ran the last mile at a 7:24 pace because I wanted to compare the effort level to a 7:30 pace on a treadmill.  It was definately harder to do outside, but it was a lot more fun.

I ran 6 miles on the Kuhni frontage road today.  My plan was to run 3 continuous miles at a 7:30 tempo pace with the other 3 miles at an easy pace.  The split times were 8:13, 7:20, 7:37, 7:33, 8:51, 8:08 for a total of 47:44 (7:58 min/mile avg).

I figured that it would be difficult to translate a 7:30 treadmill pace to a 7:30 outdoor pace, but I didn't think I'd miss my goals.  I actually had to take a small break between miless 3 and 4 - I kept moving, but very slowly.  Obviously I didn't count that time in my total, but it was probably a full 2 minutes.

I didn't quite make my goal today, but I'll try again next week.  It seems like the first time at a new pace is always the most difficult. 

4 easy recovery miles.  Nothing special about today's run, just that I did it.

My goal for today was six short (quarter-mile) intervals embedded insde of a 6 mile run.  After a 1 mile warmup I started my intervals, wanting to finish each interval in 1:40 (6:40 min/mile pace).  I jogged for a quarter mile between each interval, albeit very slowly.  The times for my intervals were 1:35, 1:32, 1:35, 1:36, 1:35 and 1:38. 

The best part of my run was the 2 mile cooldown on the way back to work.  I started into an easy recovery pace.  With about a half-mile left I looked at my watch and saw that I was averaging an 8:43 pace.  Less than 1 year ago my 10k race pace was about an 8:35.  Thinking of that improvement gave me a lot of satisfaction.

The total time for today's run was 53:10, for an 8:41 average.

Tomorrow's going to be really busy, so I decided to do a longer run today.  I started at Novell and went south on the Kuhni's road until I hit the gas station across the street from Wendys.  My watch said that was 4.3 miles, so after getting back to Novell I ran around the campus until I hit 9.

Other than running 9 miles, I didn't have any specific goals for today.  That's both a good and a bad thing.  Monday and Wednesdays are fast runs.  Tuesday and Friday are easy runs.  On those days I know what to do and can focus on the task.  Saturday tends to just kind of exist.  Sometimes I have fun, sometimes I run hard, and sometimes I run while thinking "How much longer do I have left?"  I think I need to categorize this run - maybe make it my fun day.  I could try running new places or at least someplace I don't normally go.  I'll have to think about it some.

In any case, today turned out to be good.  I started easy but then was able to increase the speed as the run progressed.  I backed off the last mile to cool down.  The total time was 1:14:02, for an average of 8:14.  The split times were 8:29, 8:20, 8:12, 8:13, 8:09, 8:04, 7:57, 7:53 and 8:45. 

On a side note, I still want to run the to the "Y" sometime.  I'm guessing the trail is a little muddy right now, but should dry out in another week or two.  I'd see if Paul wants to do it again, but I'm concerned that he might take me on some overgrown deer trail. ;) 

Basketball, 90 minutes.  I didn't play as hard but had some times when I pushed it.

Today was the first time that I've run in a week.  I started coming down with a stomach bug last Friday that kept escalating until Monday.  Fever, sore throat, aches - common flu symptoms I suppose.  I was feeling pretty good on Wednesday and back to myself on Thursday.  I did play basketball for about an hour and a half that night, so that's got to count for something, right?  My Friday run got cancelled because of a superlab issue, which was disappointing.

Today I dropped into the riverbottoms and followed the Spanish Fork half-marathon course.  Pretty route that I really enjoyed.  I ran pretty easy today, averaging an 8:50 for the duration of the 10 miles.