Long Run

After having a successful race on Thursday, I have set my sights on my next race. It is... drum roll please...

The Celebration of Running 5K on August 17th at the Orlando Science Center. I ran it 2 years ago. Well, I started off nearly walking. I was still nursing a pulled hamstring that wasn't letting me open up my stride or push off. It was a primarily flat course with a slight downhill around 3/4 to go which is immediately followed by an uphill and a turn leading into the final stretch. Part of the straightaway sprint is at a grade as well, but it is nice and long so you can get a good kick going.

I am going to try to stick to a training regimen. I have been winging it the past few months. I just plugged in the numbers on Runnersworld.com's Smart Coach (link to the right -->). According to the schedule, I needed to run 7 miles today at a 9:13 pace which comes out to 1h 4m 30s.

I ran 7 miles at the slowest comfortable speed I could. I ran a little faster than I was supposed to, but I finished my 7 miles and never became out of breathe. It was very warm (84 degrees), sunny, and slightly humid and I had to stop every mile for water.

My time was 57m 2s, so my actual pace was 8:09. Tomorrow's schedule shows rest or cross training followed by an easy 2 mile run on Tuesday, so I will probably do squats, shoulders, and triceps work tomorrow in the gym.