Breaking the Wall

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 16 because tomorrow is Benjamin's chess tournament, and I will only be able to run 10. Total time was 1:58:47 as we had a very sluggish start. Picked it up in the last 3.04 and ran it in 18:03, slightly sub-6:00 average. It felt harder than what it should have. Probably due to the 800s while still not fully recovered from the 20 miler on Saturday. I think the lack of soreness in the muscles makes me greatly underestimate the stress of running 5:58 average for 20 miles and how long it takes to recover from it. I should probably keep my hard running in those 20 milers to 10 miles, definitely no more than 15.

A.M. 10.18 in 1:13:56. I was wondering what I could have done in shorts yesterday. So I decided to wear shorts today and try one test 800 to see how it would feel. It was interesting. I opened with a 77, but then was able to give myself a kick in the behind and close in 73 finishing in 2:30.8. Then I decided to do one more, and this time ran 2:30.0 with even splits. So about the same as yesterday in pants. Interesting results. Possible explanations - pants do not slow you do as much as I think, at least when the temperatures are around 35, I was tired from yesterday, or I just ran with less effort today. The less effort explanation holds some credence as evidenced by fading yesterday in the last 200, but closing strong today.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:05.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:30.

A.M. Jeff and Kimia were blessed with a baby girl last night, so I ran alone this morning. Did 10.18 in 1:15:53 with 4x800 in the middle with essentially full rest in 2:30.7, 2:31.7, 2:31.1, and 2:30.8. It was a bit colder when I started, so I wore pants. Later I wished I had been in shorts. In the first two I was fading in the last 200. Then I came up with a plan to avoid fading. Increase the effort at 300, and increase it even more at 600. That worked. I ran a slight negative split in the last 2. However I was not happy with how hard it was to maintain such a slow pace for so short.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin including a fartlek mile in 6:26.9 alternating 100 in 21 and 29 for the first 1000, then a steady pace to the finish (last quarter in 92). Hopefully this gave him some confidence that if he can fartlek through a 6:26 mile with this much pace variation, he can run it steady in 6:00.  1.5 with Julia in 12:57. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

A.M. 10.2 in 1:19:56. Met Jeff on the trail. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:16. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:17. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:39.

A.M. 10.18 in 1:19:39 with Jeff. We were both tired from the 20 miler on Saturday + daylight savings and opened with a glorious 9:12 mile. I this is the slowest start in non-adverse conditions since a long time ago. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. We actually caught them at the very end of the run, and I was able to time their last 100 meters. They were going around 10:40 pace.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:29. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:48. Benjamin picked it up in the last 300 to 5:50 pace. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:55. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:12. I think that is his record, if not, then only a second off.

Day of rest. Went to church. In Sacrament the talks were on the Atonement of Christ. Good talks. Taught in Sunday School - the lesson was on the life of Christ to go along with the talks. It just happened that I was teaching in the Elder's Quorum as well (second time this year) on creation.