Breakfast or coffee?

Got a few updates...

On Friday, I ran an old course near an old apartment. It is 3/4 of a mile from my current home, so there and back gave me 1.5, plus I ran around an extra couple of blocks to give me another quarter mile on the way home... so 1.75 in addition to the course. The course I ran is taking the streets closest to Lake Highland, which happens to be 1.3 miles and includes a few ascents and descents in a neighborhood. I did 3 laps which is about 4 miles and got thirsty and since the nearby school's gate was open for a swim meet, I ran by their track and used a water fountain, which gave me another 1/4 mile. All in all, I ran about 6 miles. I was sluggish going in and thought that maybe my energy level would pick up as I got going, but it didn't happen. I got my mileage, though.

Saturday and Sunday were busy with film industry related endeavors, thus, I did not run.

Monday, I got on the treadmill after work. Since all of the treadmills were taken when I got there, I had to start off with an eliptical style machine. I don't like them, but I had to do something. It said that I did one mile when a treadmill opened up. I immediately moved up a row and got started. I thought to myself, "Hey, you just did a good hill workout the other day. Try another one." I put the machine on Alpine Pass not knowing what is in store for me. I put the incline at 6 and the max speed at 10mph. One of the two was too much. I did a mile, which took me to the peak of one of the virtual mountains and puttered out. Hit stop and put it on 5k. I wanted to keep a decent pace, but I just winded myself, so it wasn't in the cards. I held up an 8:30 pace, but struggled the entire time. I didn't eat breakfast. Does that affect an afternoon run?

Tuesday, today. I went to the gym in the late afternoon / early evening. I thought to myself that I would run 5 miles. I put a 4 in the first digit for the amount of time and thought... hmmm... make it a 45 minute run and go for 6 miles at 7:30 pace or put in 40 minutes and do 5 miles at 8 minute pace. 45 minutes it is. I started out at 8:00 minute pace for the first 2 miles. Took it down to 7:30 pace for the next 2 miles. Now, I know at that point that I need to go 7:00 minute pace for 2 miles to make my mark. I kept it at 7:30 pace for another mile and knew that I would have to really kick it up the last mile since I had to make up a full minute. 7:30 for the first quarter and then I gradually started picking up the pace until I was in the high 5 range for the last lap. I couldn't hold it all the way around and eased up the last 100 yards. I ended up at 5.97 miles in 45 minutes. Calculator tells me that I ran 7:32 pace average. So close. That has definitely been the best running I have done in weeks.

Now, I ate breakfast today which I haven't done in a week or so and I drank a coffee around 6pm. I started running around 7:30, so the coffee definitely kicked in by that time. I can really tell because I was dehydrated more than normal and my energy was up. So was it the breakfast or the late afternoon coffee?