Welcome Back Long Run!

Had a nice weekend of running, more importantly have finally put together 1 solid month of running. After missing a few weeks of long runs, finally got a decent one in this last weekend so very pleased about that.

Fri, day off. Considered a slight jog, but opted for the day's rest knowing I was going to more than make up for it. Did go hang out with Big River over at Wave Taco, a sand volleyball hangout downtown - they had a benefit going on, so enjoyed a nice evening of food, beverages, and watching my fellow teammates play some spirited battles on the volleyball court.

Saturday morning, woke up bright and early for the dreaded long run. Weather was sunny and not too bad at 5:30 a.m., and dragged my sorry carcass over to Crystal's - met up with Mike, and we got on the trail and moving. Felt ok starting out, but our high 8/low 9 minute pace felt like low 8/high 7 minute miles, which is never a good sign especially starting out. Eventually got loosened up, and felt better. Ran the majority of the run in the shade, which was nice since it was starting to get warm and was super sunny. Lots of people out, great to see the local runners taking advantage of the awesome trails :) Had fun on the second half coming back when Mike and I whined so much about Crystal pushing the pace that she FINALLY tucked in behind us and let us dictate the pace, given we didn't accelerate and get too out of control. We settle into a comfortable pace and was just churning out the miles for a while. So what happens on the last mile? Crystal "makes her move" and starts to gap us, claiming she was working on form blah blah blah. This was not surprising at all, by the way, as both of us expected this. Well, Mike and I let her go saying it wasn't worth the effort to keep up seeing neither of us had a long run longer than 10 miles (we went 14) and wanted to push pace, but kept her somewhat in sight. Last mile, slowly accelerated, then with about a quarter mile or so decided eff it, and went to catch Crystal. She, in turn, begins her kick, and Mike and I turned it into 8th gear to catch her. Mike's recent trackwork showed, and he "won" our little race. Definitely have to work on my kick, it's not there anymore. Total mileage: 14 miles - splits were: 8:55, 8:13, 8:28, 8:22, 8:20, 8:27, 8:20, 8:06, 8:23, 8:33, 8:23, 8:20, 8:12, 8:07.

Sunday, waited till later to get in a run. Weather was cooler and windy, which felt spectacular. Didn't feel too bad from the long run, so wanted to kind of push it since it felt great outside and I wanted a tempo work since I hadn't had any in forever. So decided on running the first couple miles hard, then jogging the rest. Did an out and back on the trail, felt rough on the first mile to the trail (which is hillier), and settled in on the second mile. Felt ok, but stride felt very restricted. Was pleasantly surprised to see a pretty strong 2nd mile, and it felt much easier than the first. Probably could have kept going, but would have been a lot of effort given tired legs and lack of conditioning. Jogged the next few miles, then finally loosened up and picked it up the last mile, hitting 6:45 pace which felt like nothing - very encouraging signs. Ran to Pat and Crystal's for Entourage to finish out the day's mileage. Total mileage: ~7 miles - my first 2 mile tempo splits were: 6:33, 6:20. Ran the rest around 8-8:30 pace.

So a decent week of mileage (I think 36?), plan on some miles and drills with Crystal tonight, then track work tomorrow!