dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Total running time of 45:30, with total distance run of approximately 6.69 miles (average pace of 6:48/mi) according to the course tool.

TLDR version:  I ran a speed workout 3 x 5 min hard, and 3x 1 min hard, 45 min per day during the first half of the week.

Full version:  All week I have been running 45 min per day, but only running easy.  I strained one of the intercostal muscles in my ribs about a week and a half ago and it has hurt to breathe deep or blow my nose, etc.  Thankfully this hasn't happened in a couple years as for a while I was straining an intercostal muscle once every few months.  So, for the first half of this week I just kept things easy.  I also felt like I ran my runs too fast last week, even though I didn't run any speed workouts after getting sick, and I felt like I needed to slow things down a little.

Today, as I started my run I could tell that my legs were feeling snappy so I decided to run a speed workout.  I ran the same loop around Alpine that I ran 3x last week.  This loop contains a lot of hills, and I measured it out on the course tool at 6.03 miles.  Last week I was running this loop in around 45 minutes, and today I expected to run it at least a few minutes faster.

For the speed workout I ran 3 x 5 minutes hard/3 minutes easy, followed by 3 x 1 minute hard/3 minutes easy (only 2.5 minutes easy after the last segment as I had finished the run), starting at the 10 minute mark of the run.  The first repeat had about 4 minutes of mostly steep uphill, with about 1 minute of fairly steep downhill (approximate net elevation gain of 115 ft, with total climbing of 158 ft during .76 mi according to course tool).  The second rep was almost exclusively downhill (moderate to steep) until the last 20 seconds when it turned uphill again.  The last 5 minute rep again had about 4 minutes (mostly steep) uphill and 1 minute of downhill.  For the 1 minute reps, the first was downhill until about the 45 second mark and then turned uphill.  The second was exclusively downhill (very fast as the grade was pretty consistent).  I made it back to the house during the following recovery to complete the loop in 40:57 (3:14 for the last 0.5 mile even though only 1 minute was run hard) for an average pace of approximately 6:47/mile.  At 42 min I ran the last 1 minute rep (about 40% downhill and 60% uphill), before turning around once more to head back to the house.

Total of 45:00 for over 6 miles.

TLDR:  1 mile hard at end of run in 5:13

Full version:  I decided to run 1 mile hard near the end of my run as a fitness test of sorts.  The goal was to run this mile near all out.  I ran the same 6.03 mile loop I have run multiple times in the last two weeks and started the hard mile with 1 mile to go.  This entire run is pretty hilly and even while running some of the hills early on my legs felt slightly fatigued going up them.  On the downhills I felt fine.

The last mile of the run starts off flat with a slight uphill gaining approximately 9 ft.  I made it to the top of that rise in approximately 1:13, at which point I started heading downhill.  Unfortunately the downhill is steep enough initially that it feels uncomfortable, but eventually it decreases to a more manageable grade.  I hit the half mile mark in 2:33, and then ran the last half mile in 2:40 for a total time of 5:13.  During the last half mile there is a fairly steep hill, with total elevation gain of approximately 35 ft over the last minute or so of the run.  Total elevation change over the last mile is approximately -73 ft, with 44 ft of climbing and 117 ft downhill (net -56 ft during the first half, and -17 ft during the second half).

I was really hoping to be under 5:00 for this mile because of the net downhill, so I was a little disappointed to not hit that goal.  Overall it was hard to estimate what this sort of effort was worth due to the steep uphill at the end, as well as the uncomfortably steep downhill during the first half that didn't speed me up as much as I would have hoped.  Aerobically I actually didn't feel too bad, but my legs did not feel like they had the strength in them to run faster.  I feel like my current fitness is limited to a large degree at faster speeds by lack of strength.  I may implement some additional exercises at home to try and rectify this problem, or maybe some hill sprints (no shortage of those around here).