AZ Run Dad

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.