9:00

I ran a nice, hot, sweaty seven-miler this morning. I felt good out there, and I didn't have to be at work until noon, so I tacked on an extra mile. The First Lady is back at choir practice these days, so Monday evenings are free, meaning a four or five-mile run is in the plans for after work this evening. It's a great way to beef up weekly mileage and get some hard work in. This might even turn out to be a double double week, since Wednesday morning's effort can and should be followed by a trail run with the group.

It's been a week and a half of decent running around here. 25 miles last week, which included a 6-4 double last Monday. It was pretty weird running only four miles on a Saturday, when typically I run longer distances. The nice part, however, was that it didn't really mess up my day.

I also ran 6x800 last Wednesday, as part of a six-miler. I've done a nice job of keeping my pace at around 7:40. It's probably the most running I've ever done at that pace. Last fall's 5-mile PR (39:40) doesn't count, since I didn't really train at a fast pace for it.

My base pace is also at 9:00. I'm wanting to be a bit of a faster runner, so I've decided to up the tempo just a little. This has been going on for a month or so, and I feel like I'm doing a better job of finding the pace and then staying there. I used to aim for 9:00 and end up at like 8:35 per mile, so I've improved.

The plan for now is to train for some half marathons just after the first of the year. Tuscaloosa has one in the works that I plan to race. Starkville, MS has one in early February, and perhaps Birmingham (Mercedes) can be in the works. No full marathons on my horizon right now.

I also signed up for the Nucor-Holt 5K next month. This is the race where some other joker ran past me in the last 100 yards, after he'd been walking toward the finish, and picked it up only when I passed him. I had a bum calf, so I didn't go after him. Turns out he took 3rd in our age group, so I was pretty honked about it. That's one reason I'm racing there. It'll also be a good challenge-- downhill the first mile or so, then it levels off, then a steady climb for the last mile or so.

800 repeats

I cranked out 5x800 repeats Saturday morning at about 7:40 pace, which is flying for me. 400 rest in between. Good, hard work. Had to dig a little bit toward the end-- had to work a little harder. It was good effort. Stretching the boundaries and dialing up the speed a little has helped me suffer a little and sort of realize what I can do.It's also nice, since I can squeeze everything into a five-mile run before work.

Doing a Wednesday long run turned out to be a big help in getting to a 25-mile week on only four runs. I haven't been out on the trails lately, since my (third) anniversary and wife's (not third) birthday both fell on a Wednesday, and a two-mile race landed on Independence Day Wednesday. Work will get in the way this week, but I'll get back out there soon.

Running Faster

Ed is a good friend of mine-- a fellow runner and running store employee. He's the one who helped me design the training plan I used for marathon back in February.

One thing he says is,"if you want to run faster, you're going to have to run faster." I find myself thinking about these words as I work to improve my base pace and see what else I'm capable of out there. I can hit cruise control at about 9:40 per mile and go a long distance. But now I'm wanting to lower that pace to about 9:00. I've been working on that for a few weeks. I've also added some 800 repeats at about 7:45 per mile, which is pretty fast for me.

I'm still not really training for anything-- thinking more about cranking out some half marathons after the first of the year, but no fulls. I'd like to have some other things happen in my life (and devote energy to these pursuits and not to extra runs) before I commit to another 26.2. It helps me see why half marathons are so popular-- it's a challenging goal that doesn't really alter the course of our lives.

With no real goal on the horizon, weekly mileages are in the 20-25 range, which is where I want to be. I've found it easier this season to get out the door earlier in the morning. I've been starting out a 7:00 am to get my work in for the day. In addition, looking back through the training log, it looks as though I'm doing a better job of running this summer than I did a year ago.