Sunday, March 25, 2012

Timed Mile! (doesn't count)

Hi, folks.  I ran my first "timed mile" of the season Friday in 5:58.3.  However, this does not really "count" and differs from a mile time trial in several ways:  1) I did not wear racing flats; 2) it is pre-season - defined as the time period before high school track starts having meets; and 3) it was an informal start...I simply walked up to the line and started, rather than backing up a few yards, then scuttling quickly up to the line and shouting "boom!" (my usual method for mile time trials.

With that established, I was ok with the results, as my goal for this pre-season mile was sub 6 minutes.  Unfortunately, it did not come easy, and I was forced to run an 85-second final quarter with some element of suffering to dip under 6 minutes.

Today I ran 7.3 miles, my longest training run of the year so far.  Last week I ran 25.4 miles in 5 runs, so things are progressing quite well.

Stay tuned!!

Mark

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Spring Training!

After essentially no winter here in western New York State, Spring has also arrived early.  Last night I ran in shorts and a t-shirt (of course in this modern era, t-shirt means a running "tech" shirt) under sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s.  I ran 5.0 miles on trails, averaging 8:43/mile.  This was a mini "comeback" run of sorts after missing 3 straight days due to illness.  Hope to be back out there tonight for about 4 miles.  I'll keep doing trails if it hasn't rained, and switch to roads when necessary.  With these temperatures, I'm thinking about getting on the track to make sure I can break 6 in the mile before the track season gets formally underway.  Of course, at our age, why are there "seasons?"  We're not on teams anymore, or in school.  Somehow, though, I still think of getting on the track during the Spring, and cross country in the Fall.

Mark