No Snow

That didn't last long, and we're back in the 50's again temperature-wise. The chill is still there in the breeze, but hopefully this means it's on it's way out for good. But I'll believe it when I see it.

Today was a good speed workout, with 4x1 mile intervals at marathon-pace and one minute recovery periods between each. Overall I went 6.25 miles. The pace was pretty easy to keep, even against the wind. A few times I had to slow down as I found myself running a little fast, but then again there were periods where I had to speed up because I had slowed going up a rise or just lost focus. Overall I'm happy with the workout, and keeping it a reasonable pace certainly helped, as opposed to some of the speed sessions like 800m intervals are faster. I also kept the warmup mile and the cooldown mile afterward at about 9 minutes/mile, part of my plan to up the speed overall.

One thing I've thought about is how to warm up for the half-marathon next month, since I think I will do better if I've run a mile or so. I've always been irritated by those people who are out running before the start of a race, considering them showoffs or overachievers, particularly when they're doing so right before they're about to cover 26.2 miles. But now I'm starting to wonder if that's something I should do, too? For instance, on today's run it took a good half mile before the stiffness in my legs and hips started to fade. So maybe that's what I need to do before the half. I haven't done a warmup like that before, but maybe this is the time to give it a shot and see how it goes. It certainly will help me start off closer to the pace I want, and I don't think warming up will affect my ability to go the distance. Let's plan on this little experiment now and we'll see how it goes in less than 20 days.