2/05/09 - 11 miles

I was able to sneak away from work a little early today in order to get this run in before basketball practice at 7 pm. My schedule called for an 11 mile run with 6 of those miles at half-marathon pace. I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill because I knew it would be dark during the latter part of my run. The weather outside was fabulous but these short days don't allow me to get outside very much.

I ran the first three miles at an easy, slow pace gradually increasing speed until I was running at an 8:00 pace. I then pushed the tempo to a 7:30 pace for the next 6 miles. I really started feeling it the last mile or two but I was able to stay with it. I slowed down to a 9:04 pace for the next mile but started feeling good again so I increased to an 8:34 pace for the final mile. I didn't get to stretch but I felt really good afterwards. I think my schedule continues to call for these hard tempo runs and the distances gradually increase. I don't look forward to these runs because it just means pain but I'm always pleased with myself afterwards. I ran the 11 miles in 1:28:34 which is an 8:03 pace.