Hilly Tempo Run

Today was the usual hilly tempo run, with one change. I finally started using "courses" on my Garmin, which means if I run a course once, my watch tells me how to do it again! This is good news since I just can't seem to remember the 7 mile course with twenty-one turns that we do in the dark at 5:30 in the morning.

So now that I actually know where I'm going, I can run my own workout. I really don't mean to sound like "ha! I'm faster than you!" Everybody in my group goes hard on Tuesdays for one reason: we want a good workout, but hard is relative.

Needless to say, today's workout went great. I felt like a dog that managed to get off his leash, and I was ready to roll. So after the warmup, we hit the hilly section where everyone takes off, and I ran my legs off. Another way to say it, is I started running way too fast to sustain it. I managed to run the 1.8 mile quick section at 6:06/mile and coasted in going a little under seven minute pace. This was a great start to a hard week of training.

In other news, my new Mizuno Wave Riders are really working magic on my right foot. Originally I was planning to switch between my new and old shoes, but I'm really hesitant to switch back now that my foot feels good as new.

I'm also thinking about running a 30K on September 23rd, which is two weeks before the Chicago Marathon. A friend of mine is running both the 30K and Chicago, and I think it would be a great way to decide if I'm able to sustain my pace for a 2:50 marathon, or if I should shoot for 3:00. I haven't signed up yet, but its really being considered. Also, its a smaller race so I might have a shot at winning. With all my running and racing, I've still never won a race. I've gotten so close I could taste it, but never pulled it off.

Thursday I'm running Yasso 800's, which should be a good gauge to tell me what kind of shape I'm in. With today, Thursday, and 21 or 24 miles on Saturday, this is going to be one crazy week!

Happy running,

-Doug