Playing Quarters

6X1/4th was the order of yesterday or today.  (Pro tip: I did it today)  I tracked these a little different: I set my distance alarm to .25 miles so that it alarmed every quarter mile.  Then, I thought I would just listen for the alarm to end my quarters.  It didn't work out that way.

I ended up doing like I always do - namely, watching my distance like a hawk to hit the lap button at exactly the quarter mile mark.  So, while it was a nice idea in theory, in practice, not so much.

I also reverted to my preferred recovery quarter of walking for .12 miles then jogging for the next .12 miles and getting back up to speed the last .01 mile.

Tomorrow is going to be a longish run - maybe 7 or 8 miles at a moderate pace.

A good way to get heat stroke

Do this in 85 degree F sunny weather.  It's no wonder I slowed down those last two miles.

BTW, since I knew it was hot, I turned off the pace alarms and maintained a somewhat comfortable pace.  Of course, that pace became uncomfortable after a bit, and I almost shut it down after three.  But, I had brought water and was determined to get in 5 miles even if I had to walk.

I hope my body realizes it's summer and adjusts tonight...

2nd Fastest 5K Ever!!

Yes, it's 3 seconds faster than Monday two weeks ago, so :-P

As you can see, I went out too fast and had to hold on to finish well.  This time, I don't have as many caveats as last time; I only had a day of rest after 5 miles @ a 9:20 pace.  The weather did cooperate, so I didn't have to fight the heat. 

I'm going to take that three seconds as an indication of consistency, not of being quantitatively faster than two weeks ago.

Hope springs eternal

One of my hopes from Thursday came true.  yay.  Now hopefully this is the start of my 5K training for the summer.  Up Monday, a practice 5K.  yay.

False Start

First it was a cold.  Then it was an ingrown toenail.  Then the cold came back bigger and badder.

Now I'm a bit better.  Saturday will hopefully be 5 miles, and I'll get back into training next week.

Summer Arrives

On my way I knew that this was going to be a hot one (hot = >77 degrees F) (it was 83 degrees F at the time of my run), so I changed my plan to shorten my run and pick up the pace a bit.  Ok, well, I made the decision after the first mile...well, maybe second mile, to shorten the run.

Alright, so I had originally planned to run 5 miles alternating between 9:30 and 9:00 paces; after the first mile, I dropped the 9:00 pace idea and went with 5 miles at 9:30 pace.  At the two mile mark, I decided to maintain my pace and stop at three miles.

There's the whole story.  On the upside, I was happy with this run as I have not gotten any heat training in this year and this served a good purpose doing that.  I'll have to look at the forecast for tomorrow to see what my quarter intervals are going to look like.

Second Fastest 5K Ever!

Caveat: I had plenty of rest since my mini marathon (7/8 days of rest)

Even with that caveat, I'll still break my arm patting myself on the back about this one.  Despite being down sick with a head/chest cold from Friday until Sunday, I decided that the best thing I could do to get the crap out of my lungs was to run my guts out and cough one up.

So, I did.  For those of you keeping score with the home version of Rusty Runs, this is 13 seconds slower than my fastest 5K, which is definitely good news for me as it means...I'm faster!  I'm pretty sure I can go even faster given race conditions.

And...a plan is formed for non-race weeks:
5K Mondays.  I will run a 5K every Monday.
Easy Wednesdays.  5 miles around a 10 min pace.
Interval Thursdays.  4x1/4 mile intervals w/ 1/4 mile recovery. 1 mile warmup/cooldown.
Long Saturdays. 7-9 miles around a 10 min pace.

I need to find a race...soon.

No Pace Alarms!

And I only looked at my pace twice during the whole run, and that was during the first half mile.  I did look at my mile splits, but I didn't make a conscious effort to maintain the 9:45 pace.  I felt a bit uncomfortable, but definitely like I was pushing it.  A nice recovery run, in my book.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: This is my best time for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon
The Bad: While I hit my intended pace going out, it turned out to be too fast, and I paid for it in the end.
The Ugly: Walked on the track, walked through water stations, hated the last three miles.

I didn't have the excuse of weather this year as I did last, but I am just as disappointed with the results.  I was fairly certain that I would be able to maintain that 9:30 pace and just couldn't.  I'm not sure what it is about this race, but I don't really want to run it again.  I'll stick to the cold weather mini's; 24 degrees, bring it on.

Unseasonably Warm

Since the average temperature on May 1st in the Indianapolis area is 67 degrees F, I'm going to call today's temp of 83 unseasonably warm.  I was going to say that today was seasonably warm until I actually bothered to look up the average temperature.  I was shocked by the results.  Shocked, I say!

Anyways, due to the temp, the bright sunny...erm, sun bearing down on me, and my neglecting to take some water, I decided to just shut it down after four.  Now for two days rest!