Day 25

3 mile recovery run today.

I ran pretty hard the last two days so I'm going to be extra careful to keep this one in the recovery zone.

Distance: 3.0 miles
Duration: 26:57
Pace: 8:58
HR Avg/Max: 135/148
notes:

I ran the first 1.5 miles with my dog Sasha. I figured this would help me slow it down and enjoy myself. We started off pretty fast with Sasha pushing the pace (or more literally pulling the pace). However, Sasha is not so much of an endurance athlete and started to slow down after about .5 miles when the excitement of going for a run started to wear off. At this point she fell in stride with me at my side and with the exemption of a few bunny spotting incidents made a very nice running partner. After the 1.5 mark I dropped her off at home and finished up by myself. I was able to keep a good pace and pretty much had my heart rate under or at 135 the entire distance. I was pleased to be able to stay in the recovery zone and still hit under 9 min/mile pace (although I did push it the last .2 miles to get me there).

I'd like to have a better idea of how my fitness is improving but I still don't have enough data yet to get a good picture. I've run so many hilly courses of different degrees and at so many different temperatures that it's hard to find data that can really compare. I probably need to start running more consistent courses and then in a couple more weeks I'll probably have a better idea on where I stand.