Everything Counts

20 miles @ 6:33 avg. pace.  We're visiting Amy's family up in Washington this week.  So, I had plenty of time to get a good run in.  I went 20 miles along the Columbia River.  At 13 miles I mixed is some faster stuff:

2 miles in 10:33

1 mile in 4:55

1/2 mile in 2:21

1/4 mile in 1:07

I jogged a half mile in between each.  Overall, it was a pretty good run. 

8.02 miles at 7:05 avg pace.   Just a nice and easy run this morning.  My legs were a bit tired from yesterday's run, so I kept this one pretty easy.

AM: WORKOUT: MILE REPEATS

I did some "lighter" mile repeats down by the river.  I wanted to get a good workout in, but not run so fast that I'd be tired tomorrow.  I warmed up 2.5 miles then did mile repeats along the river.  The goal was 5:08-5:10 pace with 2 minutes in between.

Splits: 5:07 5:11 5:09 5:06 and 5:04

Afterward I cooled down 1.93 miles.

PM: 5.83 miles @ 6:47 avg. pace.  Just easy later evening miles up in the hills.  Pace ranged from 7:30 to 5:30, but the effort was pretty consistent.

AM: 5.21 miles at 6:59 avg. pace.  Just some easy morning miles.  I ran barefoot on the grass for two miles, after when I put my shoes back on it felt like I was running with concrete blocks on my feet.

PM: 4.13 miles at 7:01 avg pace.  Very similar route to last night.

No run today :(  I drove 9 hours back from Washington and was just too tired to get out and run late at night.

DRAPER DAYS 5K

Well I woke up at 4:45 to get ready and meet Ben at the Park and Ride to drive down to Draper.  Both of us were way tired and weren't sure how up to racing we felt.  Once we got there we noticed it was going to be a pretty packed field today.  We ran into Albert and the three of us warmed up together.

Once the race got started I settled into about 5:00 pace on the first mile.  I was surprised to see I was in 9th place a half mile into the race, despite running 5-minute pace.  In front, running five abreast were Teren, Jamal, Ben, Fritz, and Albert.  Slightly behind them were Ken, Steve, and Nate.  I passed Steve around 3/4 mile in and was in 8th at the mile. Mile One 5:00

Right at the mile you turn and head West and it's a decent downhill.  I started feeling really good and made a move. I passed Albert in the next half mile.  We turned and started heading north and I was gaining on Ben and Fritz.  Right before mile two I passed those two at the same time.  Fritz looked like he was tempted to latch on and come with me, so I threw in a quick surge to discourage it (sorry Fritz).  I was now in 5th and closing on Nate and Ken. Mile Two 4:50

Nate moved up and passed Ken in front of me, Ken tried to go with him but just didn't have it.  I passed Ken seconds after that and moved into 4th where I would stay.  I was only about three seconds back of Nate but he started moving really well.  We made the turn back East again and now had to finish uphill as it was a loop course with the start and finish right next to each other.  Nate snuck a peak and saw me a few seconds back and decided to build a lead since I outkicked him last time.  He ended up beating me by about 8 seconds I think.  He told me after the race I had put the fear of God in him after last race so he really ran hard to build the lead and discouage me attempting a kick; it worked I was too far out of range to attempt one.  Mile Three 5:05 and final .11 in 31 seconds or 4:52 pace.

Total time 15:25 

I was very happy with this race as it's substantially better than I was running three weeks ago.  I cooled down with Ben, Nate, and Albert.  And later hung out with those guys and Fritz.  Good times.