Progress(ion)

Yet another garden feature and not a weed to be found! That seat looks very inviting but I'd prefer a lounge chair with a pillow and a beer within arms length, especially after today's run! My morning started early with another trip to Calais to attempt to measure the race course but was thwarted by a major paving operation at mile 3-4 which stopped us cold. As a result I was back home by 830 and ready to roll for my 11 mile run.

My schedule only said 'Medium long 11 miles (normal pace)' and my legs were sending signals to take it easy and go slow with soreness from just pedaling the bike around earlier. But a higher authority (the controlling brain) decided it would be good to spice up the run a bit with something unplanned. Hills? Sounds like too much work. Fartlek? Could be nice and easy but before I got to that, the idea of a progression run popped into the vacuum above my shoulders. First easy mile in 8:17, now what? How about knocking off 5/sec per mile for as long as I'm able and if not, then call it a day? Next mile in 8:04 (target was 8:10) using the Garmin in lap mode which shows overall average pace for the current lap and with automatic reset on each mile.

The next miles followed in 7:56 (target 8:05), 7:57 (t-8:00), 7:54 (t-7:55), 7:40 (7:50 target but got over-enthusiastic making up time on the downhill in preparation for a long uphill). This was turning out to be a bit of fun, trying to meet the incremental effort increases and I found myself holding back a bit after a few fast starts at the beginning of each mile. On the negative side, the pace increases were also a bit worrisome with the hilly terrain and some long steady inclines over the final miles. The next few miles were 7:40 (7:45 target), 7:37 (t-7:40), 7:26 (t-7:35 down hard and then all uphill), 7:30 (t-7:30 with a vicious hill) and a final mile in 7:11 (t-7:25 which was 80% uphill and had my head down just counting exhales to stay in focus. Cooled off with a short easy jog and then a dip in the pond to cool the legs down. A great run that came out of nowhere after a long tough run on Thursday and seemed to be over in no time at all.

July 18 - Friday
Training: 11.3 miles (8:46 pace) 8/10 What the heck?! Progression run increasing pace 5sec/mile starting at 8:17 and finish at 7:11 felt easy and under control except last 2 (hilly) miles.
Health: legs sore at first but came around during the run 7/10
Stretching: none [again] (but did ice legs several times last night. Once I get on that couch with the remote control I seem to lose all initiative to move except for ice cream and chocolate.)

Have a nice weekend everyone and don't forget to give our good buddy Jamie some shout outs as he does the Vermont 100 (what a madman!)