Back at It

I was back on the trails yesterday. I decided to forgo Tuesday night intervals and just do a six mile run around the Upper Bay to let my body recover from it's bout with the "creeping grunge".

One thing I found out. It's a wonder what two days of rest can do for a sore body! I've had a bunch of little, nagging issues the past couple of weeks. Sore lower back. Sore hips. Sore quads. Well, all of that was gone! As I got going, I cranked up to Half Marathon Pace, and ended up running six miles at pace. Heart rate was only 78% of max! Nice! Plus, I feel real good today. No soreness. No stiffness. And that's just with two days of rest. Hmm. I see a taper strategy forming here for my target half on May 3rd.

Well, for the rest of this week I'm going to put in a couple more easy 6 milers before taking Friday off. Saturday I have a 5K. This should be interesting. It's been 7 months since I last ran a 5K. I have no idea how hard I can push for this. I do know that I can go all out for three miles (which I had trouble doing back in October). The question in my mind is what is "all out"? I'm thinking 8:00 to 8:15 per mile if I'm rested. I know I can run a mile in the low to mid 7:00 range, but I doubt I can hold that pace for 3 miles. The weather forecast for Saturday is sunny with temps in the 80s and 90s. I'm hoping that we get started and are done early enough that the heat won't be an issue. At least it will be a far cry from the blustery (and rainy - that's right rainy) low 60's of yesterday!