AZ Run Dad

8 miles with the last two in 5:50, 5:44. I was hoping that would feel really smooth and easy but it was harder than I wanted. I am out of shape and it was hot so there are reasons my old marathon pace is hard for two miles. However, I am excited about getting back into it so it will be fun to improve over the coming weeks and months.

6 easy then 6 x 100ish strides. Took it nice and easy this morning. There was a dust storm happening as I was running so lots of dust in my eyes and teeth. Nice.

10 miles with 4.2 mile warmup including drills and a few strides then 2 miles in 11:02 (5:30, 5:32) which was hard and faster than the 11:20 I wrote down then I jogged 3 minutes and did 6 x 200 in 35 avg. with 200 jogs. This was a good workout for me. It looked small on paper but my fitness is small so it was a nice fit. Good step in the right direction today. I'lll be running at a cooler temp and higher altitude for the next few days.

8 miles in Show Low, Arizona. This was kind of hard even though I didn't push (or so I thought). 6400 ft and lots of hills on this run. I enjoyed the change of scenery and nice weather.

10+ miles in Show Low. I pushed the pace today and felt pretty good. There were a lot of hills and its a decent altitude here so I only averaged 6:47 pace but I feel good about this effort. I felt fairly strong today. It stormed last night and I was out early so it was nice and peaceful and had that nice rain smell. It was a very enjoyable run.

8+ miles in Show Low. 35 seconds per mile slower than yesterday but still not truly "easy". Maybe one of these days I'll figure that out for Show Low. Now for some really hot, really flat running at home. 

8+ miles with a 2.85 warm up w/drills and strides then 4 x 1 mile on the road with 2 minute jogs. I wrote this workout down at 5:30 pace and figured it would be hard but not close to all out. It ended up being all out which was humbling but it's good to know exactly where I am at. The splits were 5:28, 5:31, 5:30, 5:30 with no effort to spare unfortunately. Yes it was extremely hot out at 3 am but I can say that every day for the next two months. I probably could have used one more day to recover from the hills/altitude but oh well. I am racing a 5k this weekend so I know I should be right around 17. I hope I can look back at this post in a month and laugh to myself. 

6 miles nice and slow without a watch. I'm liking the Saucony Mirage 3s as a trainer. There is just a little support in the arch if you need (I don't) but it fits/feels really good and is also nice and light for a trainer. 

10 miles steady this morning. Started easy and then most of the run was at a moderate pace. Not easy but not pushing. I did push the last two a little bit. So that worked out to avg. pace of 6:47 which isn't fast but it felt like a solid run so I'm pleased with it. 

6 miles easy and 6 x 100ish strides afterwards. I am running a 5k tomorrow and my goal is to break 17 minutes. I feel like with the weather and where my fitness is this is a realistic/reasonable goal. 

Summer Series #4 5k at Kiwanis Park: I really like this race and its my favorite of all the SS races. I figured I would be right around 17 and that turned out to be accurate. I finished in 17:03 with splits of 5:28, 5:28, 5:34, and 36 seconds for the last .12. I guess my chip time was a couple seconds faster than this. They started us about 15 feet behind the line for some reason. Anyway I went out conservatively and felt good after a mile but there wasn't another gear there even though I felt ok. My lack of endurance showed after 2 miles when I began to slow down. So right now I don't have very good endurance or extra gears. Not quite the winning combination. I gave a good honest effort and I felt like I got the most out of myself which always feels satisfying. The weather was pretty normal for here these days. About 85 and muggy. I enjoyed seeing a ton of runner friends and cooling down with some folks I hadn't met before. I kind of had nothing to lose with this race. I would either run faster than I thought and feel a good boost going forward or get a nice dose of reality and realize the work I have ahead. Turns out the latter is true and I'm excited for the work. 

10 miles on mostly soft surfaces around Gilbert this morning. Kept it pretty easy. I took my headlamp so I could run on the canal. I think I need to do this more often. At the hour I normally run I'm not sure I want to cross paths with anybody out on the canal though.

6 miles easy + 6 x 100ish strides. I was a sweaty mess after this one.

8 miles with the last 4 in 23:26 (5:47,52,56,51). I pushed a little in the warm up which wasn't smart because I was hanging on at the end of this one. I'm not pleased with the effort I had to put in on this one. I would have been better off going 24 flat for four and feeling strong. It's hard to gauge with the heat here though and when it got tough I did back off a little but not enough. 

8 miles easy around Gilbert. 

10 miles: Progressed from 7:05 down to 5:52 over the run. Every mile got faster which was nice. The dew point was down a bit this morning and it made a huge difference. I felt like I was cruising along at 6:30 pace and that hasn't happened for a while. Good solid run today..

9+ miles this morning. I took my headlamp and made it onto the soft surfaces which I was a little afraid of with my 3 am running time. I felt safe though and had a good run. I ran at a moderated pace and did 4 x 10 sec sprints when I finished. I don't have any hills close enough to my house to the hill sprints on my morning runs so flat it was. 

8.3 Warmed up about 4 miles with some drills and strides then I did 10 x 200 w/200 jogs. I did these on the road. I averaged 34 and felt pretty good. I was still a little bit of a challenging workout but I felt in control. I am feeling fitter even though I am relatively slow right now. I guess the best thing is that my body feels 100% healthy which is great (and rare).

12 miles: Today was the worst weather conditions I have run in this summer. A thunderstorm came through just before I ran and it was extremely muggy. It was only 76 but with the 90% humidity and 70 + dew point it felt very swampy. I'm sure this is what the Midwestern and Southern folks run in every day so I won't whine too much. I backed off the pace right away because of the conditions and because I wanted to run a progressive tempo in around 18 for the last three miles. I did a good job of keeping it easy and only had a mile or two under 7 before I started the last three. I ran the last three in 6:06, 5:59, 5:50 and that was getting tough by the end. 12 miles was my longest run in 7-8 weeks so it felt good to get this one in.

6.5 Miles: 6 very slow miles and some strides to loosen up. My legs were sore from yesterday's run. My body has adapting to do so I'm not sore from 12 miles.

10 miles: I warmed up 2.85 miles with some drills and strides then did 8 x 800 with 2 min jog recoveries between each one. My splits were 2:37,37,38,38,38,38,38,36. I'm pretty happy with this one as I haven't run under 5:20 much lately. Also, it's tough running period here right now so I feel good to get a workout like this under my belt. I feel like I've made some progress the last couple of weeks. 

6 miles easy around the neighborhood.

9+ miles this morning. Ventured out to the soft surfaces with my headlamp. I normally don't do this because of the time I run (3 am). It doesn't sound very safe. I felt pretty safe out there and thankfully didn't see anyone. I ran at a moderate pace and did 4 x 10 sec sprints when I was done.

8+ miles and 6 x strides after. For the first time in this weather my legs felt like they had a little bounce to them. Nothing groundbreaking but a sign of improvement that I'll take. As of today I am a part of the 35-39 age group. 

14 miles: Drove to Fountain Hills and met up with some of my masters buddies Ricardo, Brett, and John. For me the course was extremely hilly which is what I wanted. 1377 ft gained over 14 miles. A lot of heavy breathing but I still was able to finish strong. 

6.5 miles: 6 easy then some strides. Legs were a little beat up from yesterday as expected. Much better running weather here this morning.

10 miles with mile repeats: I wasn't even sure if I could do this today because my legs were a little beat up from Sunday but after a good rolling session last night I woke up feeling close to recovered and of course talked myself into the workout. I did 4 x 1 mile repeats on the road with 3 min recovery jogs. Splits were 5:21, 5:19, 5:18, 5:18. This is a big improvement over a similar workout I did three weeks ago. It was tough but I think I had another sub 5:20 in me. Once again the weather was pretty good for this time of year here.

6 slow miles around the neighborhood.