New PR!

Yesterday’s Run

Time – 50:35
Distance – 5.11 miles
Pace – 9:53 min/mi
Elevation – 144 ft.

2 miles of warmup, 1 mile time trial to check speed and see how I feel, and a 2 mile cool down. There was a significant headwind in the front straight, so that brought the time down. 7:45! New PR for the mile!

Getting Faster

I decided that it was time for a mile time trial to see what I could do. Boy, did I pick the wrong day. I didn’t sleep well, the wind was a nightmare, and I missed lunch. Pretty much a recipe for disaster. I was sure that I could probably run something that I wouldn’t hate, but as soon as the warmup was done, I figured it was all over. I almost considered just doing another 3 miles on the track at tempo pace (8:20–8:30), and then calling it a day.

But I chose to go ahead with it anyway. I was a good time to get it done, and I have never run a mile faster than 8:06, so I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to put together 4 laps on the track at 2:00 each, and go just a little bit faster at the end.

After the first lap, I was at 1:55. Well, this is good! 4 more of these and I’m at 7:40. Interesting. Sure, the front stretch was tough because of the wind, but maybe I can hold on.

Then the wind picked up. At one point in a turn, I got pushed over a lane. Laps 2 and 3 were just about hanging on at 2:00 a piece. Final lap went through with a little more of a push, and I did 1:50 to get my 7:45.

Now I know that I’m faster than I was (or ever, for that matter). I know that I can do better than this. Even a slightly calmer day, and I can get into the 7:30’s. This could be a really great summer with continued consistency and a little more speed work or hill runs. Maybe the hills to my house are not so bad, after all.