I wanna go fast!

I’ve had a couple good fast runs this week.  Well, I think they’ve been good, my knees on the other hand, are missing all the gravel road runs I used to do in Lawrence. 

Tuesday I did an out and and back on the Valleybrooke Park Trail.  It was supposed to be a recovery run of sorts, but I was really feeling it and kept the hammer down. 

5.08 miles in 34:18 – 6:45 pace

Calves and quads were still a bit tight from Sunday's 20 miler, but they loosened up pretty quickly. Hit my turnaround point sooner than I thought and had to run around the neighborhood a bit to get the full 5 miles. Hit a rough patch around mile 3, but finished up strong. Splits were: 7:01 6:49 6:43 6:49 6:26 0:27 (.08 miles at 5:46 pace)

 

Tonight, I wanted to push it a little harder, so I mapped out a 4 miler with the intention of pulling off a 6:30 pace.  Turns out, I bit off more than I could chew.  But, I ended up with negative splits and I really was happy with 6:35, just sucks when you miss your goal, even by a little bit.  Sunday’s 20 miler hurt because I really wanted a 7:30 pace.  I guess it gives me something to shoot for or whatever.

4.03 miles in 26:34 – 6:35 pace

Typical speed run. Start out strong, fear of failure and doubts in the middle, and finish up strong. Went out with the pipe dream of a 6:30 pace, but it turns out my legs only move so quickly :) Getting darker earlier, which I'm not a fan of considering most of my runs are after 8 PM after I put Ben down for the night. Splits were: 6:49 6:41 6:39 6:13 0:10 (.03 miles at 5:10 pace) Oh, cool...pulled out a progressive :)