Runaway winner

THURSDAY
7:20 AM - 10 miles, 1:08:35 - Horgan Track.
28:20 to Horgan, 2 miles on the track in 11:50, 28:25 back home. 2 miles on the track consisted of striding the back straightaway on the odd laps and running a faster 400 on the even ones. Even laps were as follows: 73.13, 71.07, 71.85, 70.55.

Yesterday morning gets my vote as Morning of the Year for 2007. It's gonna be a hard one to beat - 50 degrees, sunny, slightly breezy and most importantly, dry. Absolutely pristine conditions, I thought that even Mayall would be hard pressed to complain, but a check of his log this morning reveals that he indeed did.

As for the run itself, I was feeling a little less fatigued than Wednesday morning, borderline energetic in fact. Depending on how I felt, I was planning on throwing some short pickups into one of my runs either Thursday or Friday, and the combination of beautiful weather and adequate energy levels steered me toward getting it over with sooner rather than later.

So, rather than carrying out the original plan of a few 1-minute surges and strides yesterday, I decided on the fly to make use of the Horgan track mid-run and do 2 miles around the oval instead, alternating between strides on the odd laps and full quarter-mile pickups on the evens. I figured 5-minute pace or 75 seconds would be pushing my limits on the one lappers, but I was pleasantly surprised to comfortably click off four rotations in the low 70s. Given where I'm at right now, this was certainly encouraging. Never mind that a few years ago I used to click off 12 laps straight at this pace, but let's not dwell on the past, for the future looks brighter.

That's it for now. I'm off to go bang out 10-12 miles on the hallowed ground known as the West Hill Dam. If I'm not too strapped for time this afternoon, I may even update this page again later today. Take it easy folks.

Quote of the Day

"Well, you don’t want to be the kid in the backyard imagining that he just hit a three-point shot with no time left in the NBA Finals. Then you’re just a dreamer. Success in our sport comes from putting in the work, enjoying the process and getting yourself as ready as you can be."
- Matt Downin