The Road to Ultra

Today's Run: 5.06m
Run Time: 54:57
Total Miles to Date: 477.0

Thoughts on the Run:

Today was a nice and easy run. I almost talked myself out of it. I was tired in the morning and it was cold. After a meeting down at a local Caribou Coffee, however, I was feeling fine and the sun was starting to come out. So, I decided to get it done.

I decided to focus on a nice, easy, 11-minute pace. I knew it would vary due to the hills but tried to get close enough, give or take. The key was not going too fast like I typically do. In order to help me out, I decided to race the "oompa." That's what I call the little virtual runner on my Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS. I set the distance to 5 miles and the pace to 11 minutes and then try to maintain about a 40 - 100 foot lead on the virtual runner.

The run went well. It was nice to practice going slow and steady up hills. I actually had to slow down a few times.

The splits were:

10:41
10:53
10:36
11:12
10:54

Not bad for a target of 11-minute miles ... came in just 3 seconds shy of 55 minutes, but also ran a little bit further. Perhaps the runs are getting easier as I'm now 5 pounds lighter since the marathon?

I enjoyed the run and am glad I did it. Now for the 16-mile at Kennesaw on Sunday!

Warmly,

Jeremy Likness