Trace running

This mornings run called for mile repeats at marathon pace minus 30 seconds. Yep - that means as fast as I can. I know this is wrong but ... they should have been much slower ...

I was going to wait until the afternoon to perform this session on the treadmill but I was a little stir crazy and wanted to get it out of the way. The trace by my house is marked with mile markers but I grabbed some orange soccer cones anyway. I warmed up for a mile and a half and placed the cones a mile apart. My legs were a little sore and tired from the previous days bike and run.

Even in the early morning it was already warm and humid - very sticky. The first mile clicked off in about 6:15ish. That was not as fast as I wanted it to be and I knew the times would go down hill from here. After a very quick 60 second recovery the second mile (going back would be slightly up hill - very slightly - but up hill none the less). This mile was 6:45. During this second mile my friend Vic pulled up next to me on his new bike (a new recruit - he will be in the triathlon fold before too long). I finished the second interval and he said he would run a mile or two with me - I was just not feeling these intervals and I welcomed the change of pace. The third interval was even slower - Vic and I ran together - he had never ridden after riding and this was only his second time to ride. So the third mile was at 7:45 (this was even the down hill direction). Another quick rest - not as tired this time and for the final mile (I left Vic at about the half way point and with the slight up hill again) I finished in 7:30.

I did not perform this session as intended but with the cool down I ended up with 7 miles in exactly an hour. After I finished the run I was still a little jazzed and I grabbed the axe to work on some stumps that are in the back yard. I think the 'real' work is as good as most strength training program. Twenty minutes swinging the axe and I was spent.

A little later in the morning - the hard rains came - I was glad to have ran prior to the storm. I am heading to the pool in a few minutes to hammer out some yards.