Hope everyone had a great weekend. I gave myself a break from running. The old knee pain creeping back in. Doesn't seem to bother me running, but I don't want to push it to where I am hobbling like last January.
Sunday - 3 miles barefoot walking
Tuesday - 5 mile barefoot run on rain softened ground. I try to take advantage any time it rains. I love wet ground.
Tuesday afternoon - 10 miles shod. Decided it was time to address some of my weaknesses. Afternoon running, consistent pace, and constant running. Yep, I'm a walker and most of my running includes a walk/run strategy. That's why I like the mountain, technical terrain - I can walk. Fearing I am getting slower and slower I am going to try at least one run a week at a faster pace. Goals for this run was maintaining a 8;30 pace and no walking or cheating the pace (slow for part of the mile and speeding up at the end to bump the average). Straight road with 3 miles of pavement, 7 miles gravel - rolling terrain , but no real hills. Most of the time I am "just run", so this is a little tech talky for me.
Mile splits: 8:26, 8:28, 8:19, 8:24, 8:12, 8:12, 8:11, 8:07, 8:07, 7:55
The run went well. It took about 3 miles for the body and mind to adjust to no walking. I did speed up some in spite of trying to adjust down, the speed just seemed right. No problems aerobically, but I could feel niggles in my joints and hamstring. A little more sore than usual the following day. Wasn't a fun run, but I am happy about working on some of my weaknesses.
Ok, since I am not good about posting pictures of some of the pretty areas I run/hike, here is a link to my friends blog post.
http://www.fastcory.com/2014/08/brian-head-utah-beautiful-place-to.html
Warning: I am wearing some big A$$ clown shoes in the pictures.