Catching Up

My week is right on track. On Monday I ran an easy five miles during lunch. On Tuesday, I ran 6 x 1 mile repeats at 6:10 pace. Actually 6:10 was the goal pace; the wind made the range on these miles pretty varied. Here are my times for each mile: 6:08, 5:55, 5:55, 6:11, 6:22, and 6:13. Because of the wind, the slowest interval was the one that I ran the hardest. I've learned to make my goal to try and average whatever my goal time is for intervals and not try to hit the correct pace for each one. Today, I ran eight miles at recovery pace (8:14 average pace).

Yesterday I noticed that when I run at a faster pace, I increase turnover, but tend to keep a fairly short, choppy stride. I worked on trying to stride out a bit more and running smoother. It felt good and seemed to help me keep the pace towards the end of the repeats, but it's a balancing act between overstriding and improving my form. Tomorrow I'm scheduled to run six or seven miles at half marathon pace. I'll work on striding out and keeping a smooth form and see how it feels over a longer distance.