Long Run

Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:13:31
Pace: 9:11 min/mi

Comments: So I got all impulsive last night and signed up for the Cowtown Marathon on February 28. That's a short seven weeks to get up to 13 miles. I've felt pretty strong the last two weeks so I figured I had better give myself a little test today.

The plan was six miles but eight if I felt I could manage it. It started off cold and unpleasant. I waited until after noon when temps got out of the 30s but it was still damn brisk getting started. This played into my plans on the second half of the run.

After the very un-fun first two miles I started warming up and getting into the rhythm of the run. At the 3.5 mile point I felt eight miles was realistic and began concentrating on that goal. I honestly felt pretty good the whole way but the last mile or so was certainly a challenge to my conditioning.

Still the splits -- except for the first mile -- stayed very much around the nine-minute mark; no more than ten seconds either way. Which is the most positive sign for my hopes at actually doing this race thus far.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:15
Pace: 9 min/mi

Comments: This one was not fun and straight up weird in terms of the timing. I would have sworn this was significantly slower since I was doing a full on slog from the second mile on. But the Garmin had me at 9 min/mi average pace. It also had the route seriously screwed up so I'm thinking that's a bit off.

The fact is that after my long layoff, I've had seven runs in the past nine days. It's not a big surprise my legs are feeling a bit of wear at the moment. I'm gonna try to get a "long" run in this weekend but if my legs don't start to recover a bit, I'll probably err on the side of caution.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:07
Pace: 9:01 min/mi

Comments: Thoroughly frustrating day made even worse by my inability to get home and get my run on. Running pissed off is usually a bad idea so I made a conscious effort to hold back the first mile and not burn myself out on the front end of the run. And, instead, blasted out the second mile.

Needless to say, my individual splits were all over the place but the just-over nine minute per mile average is about where I wanted this one to land. I've been very happy with my conditioning and strength thus far but I want to be wary of grasping at stamina too fast and getting injured.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:13
Pace: 9:02 min/mi

Comments: The last couple of runs have been fantastic so I kinda suspected I was due for a cruddy one. And boy this effort certainly qualifies.

It was chilly starting out and I needed a good mile and a half to warm up. A little breeze made that all the more unpleasant. That's probably the reason I started off a bit overfast which left me feeling winded before I even got a third of the way done.

I settled down and resigned myself to the slog which, it turns out, felt a lot worse than it was. I expected 10 min/mi pace but my slowest was 9:10. So I guess I did better than I thought.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 35:30
Pace: 8:52 min/mi

Comments: I felt pretty good yesterday and really toyed with the idea of getting in a run for the fourth day in a row. But given how hard I had pushed the run the day prior I decided an injury would be the worst case scenario.

Best case  would be recovering well on the off day and cranking out a solid effort today. And that's what happened. This run was actually slower than the run prior but I held a strong pace the whole way (negative split) and didn't go all out at the end. This is the most control I've had over a run in months.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:18
Pace: 8:33 min/mi

Comments: Second run of the year and third run in consecutive days. Got up feeling much better than I had any reason to expect so I waited until mid-afternoon and took a stab at it. The current temperatures make that an option.

I started with a pretty good pace and didn't feel that terribly drained by the halfway point. So I tried to hold it steady on mile three and make a push for the final one. Initially I just wanted a sub 8:30 final mile but decided to push for sub eight halfway through. Got four seconds from it.

This was a very good run and my fastest pace in almost exactly a year. That's promising but the goal here is consistency. Gotta keep putting in the miles.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:37
Pace: 9:08 min/mi

Comments: Fantastic first run of the new year. Was rather brisk and uncomfortable at the start. Enough so I had real reservations about completing the run. But by the end of the first mile I had warmed up and started to find a bit of a groove.

I finished the first mile at just more than 9 min/mi pace, probably because I was going too fast to try and warm up at the start. That slipped to 9:26 min/mi on the second. At the turnaround I decided to try and push the pace a touch and did a bit better but as I hit the final mile I decided to try and get under the 9 min/mi pace.

I got within striking distance with about a quarter mile left and started pushing it and slipped under with a hundred yards to go and just said "what the hell" and sprinted it in. This wasn't a spectacular time or anything but it was a great effort to start me off in 2016.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 38:57
Pace: 9:44 min/mi

Comments: Last run of 2015. This was a really terrible year in terms of my running productivity; long periods of idleness, mediocre pace at best, almost no true long runs. The suck-it-up-and-finish style run today was a fitting conclusion to the year.

I'm wanting to get back into the groove in 2016. I'd like to keep times off to a minimum, have regular runs longer than 15 miles and see if I can get the pace under 8 min/mi regularly. I might even do a race if I pull it off.

Conditions
Hour: 1:00 p.m.
Surface: concrete
Weather: partly cloudy
Temperature: 51 degrees
Humidity: 61 percent
Wind: 5 mph
Location: Lewisville, Texas
Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano 21

Injury update: nada

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 39:45
Pace: 9:55 min/mi

Comments: Well that was a delight. I got started extra early for a Saturday in an effort to beat the rain. I got done before the heavy stuff but didn't avoid getting rained on for about half of this effort. Not fun.

I started off pretty good given how creaky I felt. The second mile was very solid. It went to hell after that. My conditioning is completely kaput. The second half was a complete slog that got worse every stride. Still, I finished it. That was the goal.

Conditions
Hour: 5:45 a.m.
Surface: concrete
Weather: overcast/rain
Temperature: 70 degrees
Humidity: 92 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Lewisville, Texas
Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano 21

Injury update: Just sore.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 38:34
Pace: 9:38 min/mi

Comments: Merry Christmas! To celebrate I finally laced up the running shoes and got out the door. It's been unseasonably warm this month and today was not an exception. I am a little disappointed in myself for passing up the ideal running conditions of the past several weeks.

This run was exactly what I expected. I'm out of shape and in woeful condition. But I held it together and got the four miles in I wanted. I honestly expected my pace to be hovering in the 10 min/mi range so I actually did better than I expected. Now to keep it up and get the routine started again.

Conditions
Hour: 11:20 a.m.
Surface: concrete
Weather: clear
Temperature: 69 degrees
Humidity: 50 percemt
Wind: calm
Location: Lewisville, Texas
Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano 21

Injury update: nada