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: 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 to average my goal time and not try to hit the correct pace for each interval. 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.