Speedwork

I guess I haven't posted anything in two or three weeks so here's an update. I should be working on the company newsletter right now (including a story about the SLC marathon!), but I've been having a hard time getting motivated.

I've been running pretty regularly, 3 or 4 times a week all month. It's been unusually hot for June in Oklahoma with highs in the mid to upper 90's most of the month. It just finally decided to cool down a bit this week. So I've usually been waiting until 8 or 8:30 in the evening to go run. Even then the temp has usually been somewhere between 88—93...and the humidity's been a killer. I've done a lot of 4-milers. On mile 2 or 3 I'll think I can go 5 or 6 miles but by the fourth mile I'm thinking "maybe 4 is enough." Besides, when I start that late I don't get done until 9 or 9:30 (or later) and still need to get home and shower and hopefully not get to bed to late.

I got especially busy this past weekend. I finally ran further than 4 miles...did 5 miles Saturday evening. Then Sunday I decided to try some speed runs, e.g. pick a distance and run it fast, then rest for a few minutes and repeat. I thought I'd run a mile and do it three times. So I took off fast on the first mile. Too fast. A sub-7 minute speed. By the half mile mark I had slowed down to a bit over a 7 minute pace and then at a bit over 2/3s of a mile I had to stop and walk for 30 seconds or so. I finished that mile in 7:38—so there's my PR for a mile. Makes me think if I could run the whole mile nonstop I would be near 7 minutes. I caught my breath and drank some water before taking off again. The second mile I did in 7:53 and then on my last repeat I was really running out of gas and did it in 8:24 (which I can do on a regular 4 or 5 mile run). I also took a 20 or 30 second walk during the 2nd two repeats.

It was something different and also gave me another goal to shoot for: Running these and doing the whole mile with no walking. I think if I started off at something more like a 7:30 pace I might be able to maintain that and perhaps even have a bit of a kick at the end.

I also ended up doing a quick 3 mile run on Monday evening just because the high Monday was only about 85 or 86...the coolest day we've had in quite some time and probably for some time to come. I thought I had to take advantage of it. However I also think I'm generally better off with a rest day between runs. And three days in a row is probably overdoing it.