Long Mid-Week Run

On Saturday, I posted about some cold workouts. Well, last Thursday I got out for a GREAT long run as that cold weather went away for a few days.

I got out between classes for 10.09 miles. It was my first run that was 3 laps around Como Lake (I've done 2 laps a number of times):

And notice it says 37 degrees. Glorious!


Showing my 3+ laps around the lake.

I had no big plan, but I just kept upping the speed after the first mile. In the end, after 2.5 miles of a "warm up," I ran the next 5.5 in 6:48, 6:33, 6:24, 6:29, 6:10, and a final 3:09 half mile for an average pace of 6:27.8 pace. Nothing too crazy, but a nice "long run" pace! Then I turned away from the lake and "cooled down" for another 2 miles.

But then yesterday's run sucked a little more. I headed out for 7 miles, and I wanted to do some speedwork: I told myself I'd do 3-4 miles of that HARD. Well, it was 9 degrees, and I'm still not in the correct "winter running" mindset remembering that cold air makes it a lot harder to breath. I ran nice descending half-mile splits for 2 miles (3:07, 3:06, 3:05, and 3:04), but then I was hashed. I just did a bit over 2 miles of HARD running, and then took it easier for the last few miles home. I think getting a race on the schedule would help keep me from doing that again...