That which didn't kill me...

What a long, rough summer that was. Last Saturday was probably the last day to hit 90 degrees for the year. And with recent rains we have not even seen 80 this week. The mornings are in the low 60s, but there is still enough humidity to keep the sweat coming.

My plan called for a tempo run with a one mile warm-up and 5 miles at 7:00 pace. I did fine on the warm-up. I always seem to handle those ok. On the first tempo mile I had a tough time finding my pace. Maybe because it was still dark. It's harder to find things in the dark. The first tempo mile was 7:07. Ok, but I know I can do better and I really didn't want to experience the "slower-than-the-plan paces" I had been doing during the hot summer.

Tempo mile 2 was mostly down hill, 6:50. "Oh yea, I can do this. But the uphills are coming," I thought. I managed to keep it under 7:00 for the hills and remaining miles and even extended it to 6 miles for an overall tempo average of 6:56. Including warm-up, overall total was 7 miles @ 7:11.

I'm still following the FIRST training plan for this BQ attempt. I'm feeling better about my chances now that the temps have dropped and my average paces have improved. The plan calls for 15 miles at a 7:46 pace this weekend. I'm excited to see if I can do it.