Short Loop

I'm aiming for a 10- or 12-mile run Sunday or Monday, so I just wanted a fairly short run today and perhaps a walking-only day tomorrow.

Today I ran my "standard" 3.4-mile loop around the lake, starting and ending at our doorstep, and traversing paved roads, a dirt road, paved trails, and even some sidewalks.  It's a little bit hilly, but mostly not.  A lot of it is through sleepy neighborhoods, but in a few places there are no houses in sight at all.  About half of it is in view of a nice little lake, or right alongside the lake.  It's a pleasant route with very little traffic except today, oddly, on the short piece of dirt road.

I ran/walked in a ratio of 1 to 1 (actually 60 to 60 paces) and in a time of 39:14, for an overall pace of 11:32, exactly the same as Wednesday's five-mile pace.

61 miles this month.  A little more mileage would be better - a few less short runs and a few more longer ones.

Five Miles in the Neighborhood

We're still exploring our new neighborhood.  The shortest loop around the lake is 3.4 miles, but today I wanted to run five miles, so I ran a larger loop which comes out to 5.09 miles on the map.  I ran a little faster that I have recently, and was slowed only by one phone call, during which I didn't run but walked fast.  Otherwise the run/walk ratio was 1 to 1.

Time 58:42, for a pace of 11:32, about one minute per mile faster than other recent outdoor runs.  Another lovely outdoor run.

One Lake Loop

Today's weather was pretty nice, about 32 degrees with little wind, so I ran outdoors again, one simple 3.4-mile loop around the lake.

I ran/walked 20 / 20, for a faster pace than Sunday's.  The roads and trails were quite a bit more slippery, however, in places where snow had turned to ice and I had to walk.  Further, I walked without running for 8-10 minutes while on a phone call with a state well inspector (indeed!), so the time came out about the same as the time per loop on Sunday.

Time 42:42, pace 12:34.

Ten Miles Today

Although I haven't been blogging, we have been running.  Mostly we've been in a local soccer dome, running around the outside of the field lines with lots of walkers and a few other runners.  Including today, I have run 49 miles so far this month, and spent many hours cross-training with a snow shovel.

Today we ran outdoors.  The temperature was only 20, but we haven't had snow for several days and the roads were mostly clear of ice.  The trails did have some ice, but I walked gingerly when necessary and had a very enjoyable run.  The overall pace of 12:34 isn't great, but it's OK considering the conditions.  I did a run / walk as always, mostly 15/30 or 20/30 triplets, where a triplet is three paces.  There is a nice 3.4-mile loop starting and ending at our doorstep, around a lake, and I did that three times.

The pace was very nearly the same for each of the loops, with the last about as fast as the either of the others. I could have gone much farther, and that's a good thing, because we do have a marathon coming up in about three weeks.

3.4-mile loops: 1:25 (2 loops), 42:35, total 2:08:06, pace 12:34.