August 27, 2010

MGM Half-Marathon Training - Weeks 6 & 7


Week 6 ended with a disappointing finish at the 10K race scheduled on my training plan. I was on my usual race pace, finishing the first half (5K) faster than my previous 5K finish, until mile 4. I hit of a wall of heat, humidity, and sunshine, which stole my energy and motivation to keep running. The bully knocked me down, and I had a hard time getting past him.

My next run on the plan was a 4 mile "race pace" run. I moved that run to Monday morning because of travel plans. The temperatures where I was staying in Northern Alabama were forecast to be in the upper 60's. I woke up before sunrise Monday morning and paced back and forth waiting for enough light to run on the back country roads west of Athens, Alabama. The air was drier, and the temp was around 66 when I finally headed out the door at 5:30 AM. The first part of my run was down a long driveway, then out to the road. It was better running conditions than I've seen in months. Within the first half mile, I was greeted but three big dogs, two of them just barking and growling, but one was a playful Black Labrador Retriever (Sam)which accompanied me for about half of my run. He would run past, then stop and wait for me to pass him, then he'd run ahead of me again. I think this took my mind of of my running, and I ended up with a faster pace than I planned. It was an amazing sunrise run. I fell a little short of my target distance, but with the faster pace, it was a good training run.

We're now at the end of week 7. The weekend plan has a 9 mile long run and 4.5 mile pace run. I haven't decided what I'm going to do. I'm trying to be more spontaneous, people tell me it makes life more interesting. I'll likely hook up with one of the running groups on Saturday, and then make plans for rest of the weekend.

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