week of 10 October

Here's the week of 10 October cut and pasted from runsaturday.

11 6.16 mi - 0:57:17

12 7.86 mi - 1:13:15

14 7.87 mi - 1:15:32

15 7.86 mi - 1:12:46

16 4.55 mi - 0:43:15

17 7.86 mi - 1:11:13

42.16mi - 6.5hrs

Monday was a run in the neighborhood and Saturday was with friends around the lake and the rest were my standard 7.9 mile out and back that I've done about a million times. I did it as a run/walk just to be safe. I did about 3 1-minute walk breaks on Tues and then 7 breaks (one minute at the beginning of each mile) the rest of the week. My paces weren't too bad: 9:00 - 9:30. I've kept up the 180 steps/minute and have learned to run an easy pace with that stride. Feels right. I've also done lots of foam rollering, stretching, and icing. These seem to be coming along nicely.

I did a continuous run yesterday and actually ran 8:35 pace with an easy effort. I've done this route so many times I looked up my runs this year at roughly that pace.

• 23 Feb 2010, 1:06:38 (8:30), 37 deg, HRs: 166, 136, 142, 136, 148, 139, 146, 149, AHR: 142 (excluding 1st mile)
• 5 May 2010, 1:08:07 (8:39), 50 deg, HRs: 99, 135, 142, 137, 144, 137, 145, 142, AHR: 140
• 17 June 2010, 1:08:10 (8:39), 65 deg/65 dp, HRs: 154, 134, 142, 141, 148, 144, 146, 149, AHR: 143
• 18 Oct 2010, 1:07:30 (8:35), 46 deg, 147, 140, 142, 143, 145, 143, 144, 142, AHR: 143

I'm closer to the neighborhood than I'd expect. I ran what's probably my best race (40:21 in 65-69 degrees and fairly hilly) on 17 May. My AHRs were very even and this is a *very* hilly route. I wonder if my higher stride rate is letting me do better on the hills.

I need to get some miles in. I slept in today because I spent three hours doing homework with my son and then futzed on the computer, ending up going to bed at midnight. An off day a week isn't bad, but without being able to do doubles with my new work situation, getting to 60 mpw is going to require running every single day.

I've got my eye on a 10k on 20 Nov and 18 December. Course is super flat. It's not technically certified as a 10k, but it's two laps of a certified 5k course, so I guess I can count that. 20 Nov seems a little early for trying a 10k, but the December race was snowed out last year.