progress

lately on my weeknight runs, the distance i run has largely been affected by how i'm feeling. there have been a few times recently where i've been feeling good and extended my planned 3 miles into 4 or even 5 miles. since i put 12.5 miles on my weary legs over the last two days, i started out last nite planning just a little, slow 3 miler. darrin, whose nether regions were apparently feeling better (but i wouldn't ask to borrow his bodyglide if i were you...) went with me, and as we were finishing the first mile i was thinking that i just couldn't get in a rhythm. i seemed to be struggling a little. oh well, i figured, i hadn't really had a "bad" run yet, so i'll fight through this one if i have to. then, as we passed the mile marker, i noticed that we ran it in 8:50. okay, that would explain the struggling.

i told darrin that we should just go for it and make this into a 3.2 mile time trial. so we did. during mile 2 i sped up slightly and my legs responded well. my breathing was still under control. mile 3 started well, but by the halfway point my legs started feel heavy. the last third i just let it all hang out, and finished strong but spent. our final time for the 3.2 was 27:47, for a pace of 8:41/mile. my previous best for this distance was exactly one week ago when i ran hard and finished in 29:17. not three weeks ago i ran this exact same course and made my legs sore by running 35:10!

i love progress.