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!
| 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.
I promise I haven't forgotten this blog but I was out of town the past two weekends and so I didn't get any chances to run.
With that in mind, I was a little worried about how this morning's long run was going to go. I ran an average pace of 10:09/mi which is faster than what it felt like. My feet felt heavy for much of the run. The weather was cloudy but it was very humid with temps in the high 70s. I force myself to run slower because I am very concerned about overheating since I don't always handle the heat well.
With the summer heat I like to focus less on my speed and try to work more on my form and whatnot. This morning we ran some hill repeats and so I worked on trying to bound up the hill with good form. Going uphill you should run up on the balls of your feet, which actually puts more spring in your step. Going downhill you should lean forward, shorten your stride a little, increase your cadence some, and let the hill pull you down the road/trail/sidewalk.
For more regular terrain I just try to focus on my stride, strike, and cadence. I want to really maintain a steady cadence and shorten/lengthen my stride as needed. The thing about lengthening my stride too much is I need to increase my turnover otherwise my cadence has to slow down. Thankfully in my LiveWire Adrenaline class that is one of things were we focused on this week.
Finally, I set a goal for the year several weeks ago to run 500 miles this year. As of this blog entry I have logged 345 out of 500 miles, which puts me at 69% complete. I feel this is very doable especially since I have half marathon races in August, September, October, November, and December which means, barring injury or illness, I have about 66 more guaranteed miles which would put me at around 410 miles.
I'm going to try to run on the 4th since I won't have a chance to run the next two weekends.
I had a very good run this morning. I had restarted cross training this past week since I was able to breathe again and that went well so I had plenty of motivation coming into the weekend. I had been sick the last two weeks with a cold and have tried very hard to not let that get me down. Everyone gets sick and it always seems to be at the worst time.
It was cool but not cold this morning so I didn't get decked out in all of my colder winter running gear. I ate a granola bar before leaving the house and that always seems to give me that extra little kick I need to have a solid run. After seeing the benefits of fueling before a training run or a race, I just need to get used to forcing my body to eat a little something even though I am generally not hungry at that time.
I did have any issues with heaves while running but I did get a huge cramp in my side near 9 mile marker, which was right before a water stop thankfully. I drank some water and it seemed to help. I felt pretty good throughout the run. My average pace was somewhere around 9:30/mi, which is what my comfortable running pace is right now.
I'm running the Fort Worth Cowtown Half Marathon next weekend and with today's run I feel like I could easily set a new PR. If I run a 9:30 average pace I could finish the race around 2:04, which is well under my goal of finishing my next half marathon under 2:10.
I'm still learning my way around my Garmin FR 620. At the 6.5 mile marker I reset my watch and so I have two different entries saved. Oh well. While I was stopped I wanted to scroll through my stats to see how I was doing but instead saved my run. Next time I'll try pressing the three horizontal lines on the watch face and see what that does. I'm working on a blog entry for my new watch and plan to post my review by the end of the month.
11.1 miles Pt. 1
11.1 miles Pt. 2
I have a little more below on running form if you want to read my thoughts on that. It's by no means the absolute right way to run but it might help you in case you don't have the best form.
