LiveWire Run Club 7/19

This week we've had some freaky weather resulting in some below average temperatures.  This made for very ideal running conditions in the middle of July here in Texas.  This morning we had temps in the upper 60s with cloudy skies.  Due to the great conditions, I was able to keep my pace under 10:00/mile and even got under 9:00/mile.

Today's goal while running was to run a Negative Split, which I feel I did a good job of executing.  I ran the first two miles by myself and then from there I ran with a group of people who help push me a little.  About halfway through the run I was feeling great and so I pushed ahead of the group and to my surprise I was running under a 9:00/mile pace!

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:05:14.1	7.02	9:17
1	9:58.7	1.00	9:59
2	9:55.8	1.00	9:56
3	9:37.2	1.00	9:37
4	8:57.0	1.00	8:57
5	9:06.3	1.00	9:06
6	8:50.1	1.00	8:50
7	8:36.7	1.00	8:37
8	:12.1	0.02	8:31

I have a goal to run a Half Marathon this year and finish in under 2 hours.  If I can maintain a pace around 9:00/mile I'll have a little wiggle room should I end up running a mile or two off my goal pace. I need to try to start out around 9:20 to 9:30/mile for the first couple miles and then speed up to 9:00/mile further into my run.  The good thing is I have some races in September and October to practice a negative split strategy and to see whether I can maintain a sub-9:00/mile pace.

I think the speed training I've been doing the past couple weeks has really helped me.  I ran a 6:53 for my mile assessment this Thursday evening in Boot Camp.  I haven't ran a sub 7:00 mile in something like a year or more.  This just inspires me even more to try to train harder to keep getting faster, even if I'm one of the more "slower" people in the class.

In closing, I'm going to post this link to a Top 75 list someone created.  It's pretty funny and I have thought some of the things on the list before.