Double Run Monday

If you'd like to be notified next time I write something, sign up for email alerts or subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for reading!

After a rare weekend with NO running whatsoever, I decided to get up early and run an easy four or five miles. It was a bit chilly with temps in the low 40s and a steady 10 mph NE wind, but two layers on top and a pair of lightweight gloves kept out the worst of the cold. I ended up running five miles at an average pace of 7 minutes 34 seconds per mile. It’s funny, I always feel like I’m running faster than I actually am on these early morning workouts and was a bit dismayed at how relatively slow I’d covered the five miles. Oh well, at least it’s another five miles in the bank and thankfully, 8 days after the Shamrock Marathon, my legs are feeling great.

Here’s the usual GPS details, courtesy of MotionBased.com:

Not content with one run today, I popped out after work and ran another five miler - this one a bit speedier than this morning’s effort and also a bit more structured. I ran easily to the local track about a mile and a half away, and performed 16 x 100m “striders”, each one followed by 100m recovery. I guess a strider can be defined as a:

short, fast, but controlled run of 50 to 150 meters. Striders are used in training and to warm up before a race, build speed and efficiency.

I actually felt really good on the track, striding out on the straights and running easy on the bends. I’d only planned on running 8 x 100m, but time went fast and I decided to keep going for an extra eight. The jog home was a little more than a jog and I ended up covering 5.5 miles a minute quicker than my five miler this morning at average pace of 6:42 per mile.

A productive day and a great start to the week! Here are the details of this afternoon’s run: