A Little Better

I went out and ran 20.00 again this morning. Temperature was 3 or 4 degrees cooler than last week. Stopped right on the dot at 20, didn't run a step further. I just walked it in the rest of the way. Same route as last week, I think I'll just stick with this route until after St. George. It is a little boring but I can get more information out of the run that way.

Last week, the first time I finished a full 20 in this heat without stopping, my speed was 13:40 per mile. My goal was to get it down to 13:00 and try to improve on that before St. George. I came in this morning at a 12:42 average pace, nearly a minute per mile faster than last week, so I am pretty happy about how things went.

My splits are: 13:31, 12:42, 13:08, 13:21, 12:38, 12:34, 12:58, 13:09, 12:49, 13:06, 13:47 (bio break), 12:30, 12:55, 12:27, 12:25, 12:01, 11:54, 12:05, 12:10 and 12:07.

The first mile is like the first waffle. Just throw it out. After that, though, I still had a hard time keeping the pace steady. As the run got harder I ran faster. With five miles to go I just gave up and ran whatever speed I liked. I don't know why I do that, but maybe it bodes well for the marathon. Pretty tired after it was done but I'm doing fine after a few hours. Next week I'll try to improve again. I am thinking I will be able to run 1 minute per mile faster in St. George, cool and downhill, versus running flat in the heat. The joker in the deck is the altitude. I think it got me in Ogden but I'm not sure. St. George is a little lower but it ain't sea level.

Best news of all: Zero knee pain, start to end.