A Good Week

Here's the summary from this week:

Monday:  3.5 miles
Tuesday:  3.5 miles
Wednesday:  2 miles
Thursday:  2.5 miles
Friday:  4.5 miles

That's a total of 16 miles.  My calves don't hurt anymore and my toes have toughened up a bit now, so they don't bother me anymore.  Friday I was feeling tired and almost didn't run.  But I did anyway, and I'm glad I did.  All week I was pushing my pace a little bit and got tired sooner.

Friday, I bumped my pace back down just a bit.  I was on the treadmill and just decided to keep running without looking at the panel to see how long or how far I had run.  I had glanced at the clock every once in a while, but only a few times.  By the time I looked at the panel on the treadmill, 38 minutes had gone by and I had run just over 4 miles.  I knew I had been running for about that amount of time since the album I was listening to was almost over.  So I decided to go to 4.5 miles and call it a day.

Just by bumping my pace down by 0.2 mph, I was able to keep running without feeling tired or having to think about my breathing.  It just felt natural.  And slowing my pace down just a little bit also kept my heart rate just a little lower, which is important to be able to run long distances.  So, 6.5 mph will be my pace for now.  Not bad, that's a 9.5 minute mile.  If I can sustain that for a long distance, I should be in good shape.

So my goal for next week is to do at least 3 miles a day at that pace.  But for now, two days of rest!