At 84°F, tonight’s run was the coolest of the week so far. I planned on an eight miler at around 7 minutes 30 seconds pace, but ended up racing the clock and having a great workout. The first mile was a steady 7:26 which felt really, really easy, which I followed up with a 7:08. After a quick stop for a drink at a surprisingly cold and clean water fountain, I picked up the pace for the next two miles (6:59 and 6:52) and set myself a goal of averaging 7 minutes per mile or less.

After reading marathondudebill’s recent post about running in the heat (well worth a read before your next run in the sun!), I’ve been more careful about hydration and definitely more conscious of drinking as often as possible. With this in mind I ran a two mile loop to get me back to the water fountain for a second drink. Both of these miles were quicker than the previous four (6:50 and 6:48), and now my average speed was only just above the magic 7 minute mile pace.

Refreshed and raring to go, I stepped up the tempo again and headed for home. The last two miles were tough but there was no way I was going to let the pace drop and managed to finish strong with a 6:44 and a 6:39. Average pace turned out to be 6:56 per mile which naturally I was very happy with.

On a sad note, I had to retire my Adidas Adistar Cushion 5′s tonight. I ran in them last night and was surprised at how flat and unresponsive they were. My shins were sore today and I’m sure the shoes were the cause (not surprising as I’ve covered well over the magic 400 miles in them, which for me is about all I can expect from a pair of training shoes). Luckily I still have several other pairs on the go, so I won’t be heading to the local running store any time soon.

I half intended rising early for today’s workout, but the extra hour in bed was just too appealing! The cooler 4:30am temperature would have been nice, but the thought of pounding out almost 5 miles of speed work on the track just made me turn over and go back to sleep.

Week 10 Key Run Workout #1 calls for the following, which I’m sure you’ll agree is quite daunting:

10-20 minutes warm up
2x1200m (2min RI) @ 4:09
4:00 RI
2x1200m (2min RI) @ 4:09
4:00 RI
2x1200m (2min RI) @ 4:09
10 minutes cool down

I’m also not fully recovered from Sunday’s killer 20 mile run and am experiencing slight shin pain for some reason too. Maybe it’s just the physical stress of following an intense training regime. Anyway, I’m hoping the extra 10 hours will allow me to prepare myself both physically and mentally – I’m going to need every ounce of confidence to get through this workout tonight.

I also had a thought driving to work this morning – rather than hit the track for the 6x1200m, I’ll head to the local High School cross country course where the softer grass surface might be slightly stressful to my aching shins.

I’ll also need to focus on hydration as the day progresses – it’s going to be another day in the high 80′s. Oh for cooler temperatures I’ll upload the workout to Motionbased later this evening and will be doing everything I can to make sure it’s a good one!

It was nice to run easy tonight after two tough workouts from the FIRST Marathon Training Plan. The aim was to run 8 miles and keep my heart rate under 150 beats per minute and not worry about speed or pace for a change.

The cooler weather (approx. 67°F) and slight breeze made for a very pleasant run which felt comfortable throughout. The only slight negative was a hint of shin pain in my right leg, nothing too severe, but enough for me to have to ice it this evening.

For the record, my average heart rate was a comfortable 141 bpm with a max of 148 – well under my goal of 150 bpm.

All in all a good solid workout though. Now it’s time to finish off the week with some more push ups and crunches and then I’ll be able to sit down and enjoy a cold beer….