Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Another Crisp Late Summer Morning!

Last night before I went to bed, I checked outside.  It was warm and muggy - I checked the internet and it was showing 79 degrees at 11pm.  However, there was to be an overnight low of 59 degrees and the high temperature for today was going to be in the mid-70s.  Hooray for the cooler temperatures!

I left my house this morning at 6am.  The sun was just about to rise (it's a lot harder to get out of bed at 5:30am when it is still dark outside...) and the weather was cool, cloudy and had a bit of a breeze.  The internet later showed 66 degrees, but I thought it was even cooler than that.  It was such an awesome morning for a run!

The training plan called for a long, easy run of 60+ min.  I went on my loop route around the perimeter of my neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods.  Based on how I was feeling I could choose a 4.4 mile, 5.5 mile, 6.2 mile or 7.5 mile route...all dependent on where I re-enter the neighborhood.

I wasn't exactly sure how I would do as I was still quite sore from yesterday's run.  I must say, that intervals workout really beat me up!  However, it was a "good" sore that I felt yesterday - one of those feelings where you feel a bit of discomfort in your muscles when you move a certain way, but you know that in the end you'll be stronger for it.  I was feeling that "pain" most of the afternoon and evening, and still a little soreness this morning.

The run ended up being very enjoyable.  I had a nice, easy pace - my HR was under 150 for most of the run and ended with an average HR of 147.  I ran the 6.2 mile route in 1:06:05 - a 10:40/mile pace.

I have only one more scheduled run before the Kentlands/Lakelands 5K this Saturday morning - a Long Strides workout on Thursday.  And then it's a rest day and the race.  Wow!

I'm looking forward to having this 5K stuff behind me so I can re-focus on longer distances.  I'll have only two weeks until the Parks Half Marathon...not much time to train, however, I believe I still have the aerobic capacity to last 13.1 miles.  And now that I've been doing more speedwork, perhaps my Half Marathon time will improve as well.

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