5 days haze

Whoa, i gotta clear the cobwebs off of my keyboard here and get back to blog entries. I've been real busy (Yea, I know the joke, doing what??). Today was the most boring day in the last week, not sure why I didn't make time to get on here and write sooner. I did read my latest issues of both RW & RTimes today, and I've got tons of new ideas. . . just have to figure out which to incorporate into my training plan!

I will review yesterday's workout now, and go back to cover the other days later tonight or tomorrow. Did a nice 8 mile trail run at BCSP at around mid-day. It was cold, but not bad. There was no wind at all in the woods. I had to take my gloves off & unzip the jacket after a few miles. Several other folks on the trails. I saw some type of hawk, perched in wooded area. Didn't look like Sharp Shinned or Cooper. Really not sure what he was. Also saw big flock of robins that apparently didn't fly south this year. They were noisily searching thru leaves in a section where a few trees have come down across the path. I love those hurdles - I wish they would leave them where they fall, but those logs will be cleared out before too long.

The first 5 miles I felt great & was doing something like 8:30 or 8:45 pace. Especially the downhills were fun - with the cold air making my eyes water so much that it was difficult seeing the rocks n roots on the path. then during the 6th mile I just lost all my energy. So I guess that tells me something about my current fitness level. Each mile has 2 or 3 decent hill climbs. I'd guess that the pace translates into a 7:30 pace on flat pavement. It was getting increasingly tough on each hill and every mile was slower than the last. Mile 7 = 9:30. Mile 8 - i had to walk the top of the last 2 hill climbs and the final split was a sad 11:00 getting back to the car.

Even though the end was slow & sucked, I'm using this as a good gauge to my conditioning. I want to run Caesar Rodney (half marathon)(here) but it will be as a training run/long hard effort building toward the marathon. 7:30 seems like a good goal, but I may be too far out of shape. I'll be able to judge better as we get closer. I'd settle for 8 min pace if I have to, that's really more of a training pace rather than a racing pace anyway. Last year i did a 7:10 pace for a new PR. On a flat course that would probably come out to a 1:32:00 time. Gotta run a fast flat Half sometime this year. I've been dreaming about a 1:29:xx for about 10 years now. Used to seem way out of reach, but with all the miles I'll be running for marathon prep . . . maybe this will be my year!