I've Been Having Some Good Runs Lately

The title says it all. Almost all of my runs over the past few weeks have been really enjoyable. I have had my fair share of crappy I hate everything about running runs though too. Because of all the good runs I have been having lately I have really fallen in love with running. Instead of thinking when do I have to run I now think when do I get to run. I'm pretty sure all of my awesome runs lately are due to following a smart training plan that includes lots of cross training. More on my training plan sometime this week.

12 miles total {3 miles warm up, 6 miles @ HMGP, 3 miles warm down}

Friday evening I set out to do my longest training run yet. I didn't do a hard run last week because I wanted to rest a little after the triathlon, so I added some tempo work into my long run. As the runs get longer I will be slowing down tremendously. I also wanted to use this run to get a sense of where I am at for my half marathon in two weeks.

The first three miles were pretty hot but after that it was really nice out. I wasn't sure how hard HMGP would feel but was pleasantly surprised with how easy it felt. It was by no means easy but I was expecting it to be much harder. I had some GI issues during the last mile at HMGP and ran out of water so I decided to drive home and finish my warm down where my house was never far away. I didn't want to break the run up like that but it was only a 10 minute break.

2 miles trail run/walk with Gracie

On Saturday I met my boyfriend at a local lake that has some beautiful trails. He was going mountain biking so I decided to hit the trails by foot instead. I knew I didn't want to go for long after Friday's run. The trails are really hilly so I walked the steep uphills and ran the rest. I love running on the trails and wish I got out there more this summer. There is a huge state park about 10 minutes from my apartment with hundreds of miles of trails that I am planning on taking advantage of now that I'm back at school. If only I could bring this adorable face with me.

5 miles track {1 mile warm up, 5x 400 sprint-800 recovery, 400 warm down}

I had a minor injury scare over the weekend so I cut my track run down to 5 miles from 7, and reduced the actual amount of hard running during the workout. If anything hurt during the run I was going to stop. Luckily nothing hurt though. I have expressed before how much I love doing track workouts and I think part of the reason is that it may be the best way to measure progress week to week. At least in terms of speed.

1:32, 1:32, 1:33, 1:34, 1:28

I don't know if it was the cool, rainy weather, the sort of rest week last week or what but my legs came ready to run fast today. Normally those splits would be the fastest interval of my run and a number that I would see only once. Based on the last one I wish I would have pushed myself harder on the middle ones but at least I gave it my all on that last one. After seeing my first few splits my goal was to break 1:30. When I saw 1:28 pop up I almost started crying. I never in a million years thought I could do any sort of running at that kind of pace. It all makes me very excited for what's to come.