Originally, I was hoping to head to Riverview Park in Easton and do my 4 mile tempo run (3 miles at 10K pace). With the hurricane having just come through, all the roads were closed. Because that delayed my start, I then had to find a bathroom in addition to a new running location. I decided to head to Wilson and run on the bike path.
I've run here before when I just started out and I ran north. I wasn't sure how far I could get, so I started south this time behind the Taco Bell. The first mile was a warmup. That was good because there were some busy road crossing as well as a little hill. Actually the hill was downhill though.
There was a lot of debris on the trail from the trees, so I was grateful I was running the trail and not biking on it. The second mile was at tempo pace. I cruised along and felt pretty good. The plan was to go a quarter mile past the halfway point. I didn't want to deal with the busy intersects at the end. I got worried because I looked at my watch and thought I was running a 6 min pace. It didn't feel like it and it turns out that was just my running time for that mile. I ran a nice 7:44 pace for that mile and right about on target.
I sure couldn't have asked for cooler weather. It felt like late fall rather than late summer. There was a breeze which made it a little tough. I haven't run with wind much to date. It wasn't any better as I hit the turnaround either. After the turnaround, my IT band started to bother me a little. I kept a good solid pace though and worked on keeping my form.
That third mile was a fast 7:32. I labored a little bit in the last mile. The pace was getting to me a bit. I focused again on my form though and being smooth. I need to keep doing this. There was a road crossing that I had to wait for a car at. That slowed me and also broke my rhythm a bit. In the final third to quarter mile, my kneecap starting acting up a bit. Luckily, it was right before finishing and it hasn't really bothered me since.
All my minor tweaks seem to be on the right side. Either I'm favoring a side or I have a leg length difference. The only problem I had on my left side was my shin splint early on. I really need to try working in some more strengthening exercises, especially my hips.
Since I see disc golf all around the trails that I run, I decided to buy a set today. I might practice some this afternoon. I have a meeting this evening at the LV Roadrunners Club house. I volunteered to lead some group runs. We'll see how that turns out. Tomorrow is a scheduled easy run. I'm going to go at an easy pace, but I might run at Trexler and challenge myself with the hills.
4 miles - 31:49 (7:58 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment