Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:11
Pace: 8:31 min/mi

Comments: I was a little bit wore out this morning but nowhere near as bad as yesterday when I woke up and it took me half-an-hour to get out of bed. Every minute of the day was a battle. Today, not so much.

The temperatures are unusually warm this week so I am trying to take advantage of them somewhat. I ran this one is about perfect conditions. I don't expect it to be this nice again for  a few months.

Instead of suffering through the workout I seem to be strong enough to actually run the whole thing. That switching one type of suffering for a type of pain. It's good to make the transition but it doesn't come any easier. Still, I was very happy with the splits for this effort.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 35:52
Pace: 8:57 min/mi

Comments: I set this week for alternating days running and off. And yesterday it was a good thing I didn't have a run planned. I was dragging ass from the moment I got out of bed till the moment I crawled back in.

I felt better this morning but the fatigue was still there when I started my run. The first mile-and-a-half was a sloppy slog. I was honestly surprised to see I did that mile in sub-9 minutes.

Once I got warmed up the run went better but I never felt really strong on this one. Still, my splits were very close together again which is as good a sign as I can hope for at this point.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:04
Pace: 9:01 min/mi

Comments: The ten miler yesterday left me as tired and sore as I expected but I felt surprisingly good this morning. With pretty mild temperatures, I considered putting in an a.m. run but decided against it out of concern for injury. If I was still doing OK in the afternoon, I'd try it.

I was still doing OK in the afternoon.

This was not an easy run by any means. My legs were lagging significantly and it was more of a slog than I'm usually comfortable with. Still, my stride was good and I definitely felt strong the whole way through it. Best of all, my splits were very consistent.

Long Run

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:34:37
Pace: 9:28 min/mi

Comments: So while my running hasn't been particularly consistent the last week or so, raceday ain't getting any further away. The only way to avoid some serious suffering on Feb. 28 is to pony up for some now. And so I decided to go get ten miles this morning.

It was pretty rough. The wind out of the south didn't make it any easier. That said, my sub-9:30 average pace was a very happy surprise. This was possible primarily by keeping my first four miles clustered tightly around 9:00. And while I slowed considerably after that, every mile was under the 10 min mark.

So it seems my conditioning is in better shape than I thought. Now, if I can stick to the running regimen, I might even beat two hours on this race.