Running with Jack

Today was one of the coldest days of the winter for us so far, -8C/18F at 6:00 a.m. It was a beautiful frosty morning, all the trees and grass were white. I couldn’t wait to get home from work today and go running. I was well rested (two days off), well fed, well hydrated and charged up by the time I hit the trail. The temperature was -2C/29F, no wind, still white and frosty outside and the sun was shining. I warmed up with a nice slow first kilometer, then picked up the pace. My goal was a nice quick 14K/8.7M tempo run, about 5:30/K (8:51/M). I quickly fell into pace and cruised right along. The trail was frozen, hard, but very little ice. I was wearing my new ASICS GT2100 for the first time, they felt good on the feet, I was off.

I crossed the 7K halfway point in 37:34, for an average pace of 5:22/K (8:38/M). I debated whether to slow it down a little, but I felt strong and powerful so kept going. I crossed my imaginary 10K marker with a time of 52:54 (an average of 5:17/K or 8:31/M). I could feel my leg muscles straining, but my breathing was good, no aches or pains so I just kept pushing. I made it to the “finish” in front of my house in 1:13:04, for an average of 5:13/K (8:24/M) for the 14K/8.7M.

That was a 5 second/kilometer faster pace than my 15K/9.3M race on January 8th and 5 seconds slower than my best half-marathon race pace! It was also my fastest pace run so far this year (training or race).

My legs are tired at the moment, but it was a most satisfying workout. Tomorrow night I want to go to the swimming pool and do some laps, this will give my legs a chance to recover. On Wednesday I have another 14K/8.7M run on the schedule, but at an easy pace. Saturday is my 32K/20M long run. On Thursday or Sunday I will add some cross-training depending on my work schedule and how my legs are feeling. Happy running!