Last Week: Out on the Trails

55½ miles for the week of April 27th through May 4th

M –4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:43 mpm, 60°F at 4AM [Dow]
Tu – 5¾ miles, average pace 6:53 mpm, half mile warmp, then the Dow- 2 miles hard in 12:58, then ¾ mile easy, and the Dow- 2 miles return hard in 13:13, 56°F at 4AM very nice [Ol/Dow/Ol] I was disappointed with this tempo run. Conditions probably won’t be this good again (cool and no wind) for the next five months.
W AM – 4 miles, average pace 7:45 mpm, 73°F at 4AM [Dow-]
W PM – 5¾ miles, with 3x1M/400 recoveries, average pace 6:57 mpm, Miles in 5:52.7, 5:53.8 and 5:54.3, 76°F at 7PM with a Gulf wind at 13 mph with gusts to 20 [B’Wood track]
Th – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:21 mpm, 76°F at 4AM [Dow]
F - 9, average pace 7:20, 84°F at 2:30PM [SeaC/NTrail-2x2M/SeaC]
Sa – 8 miles recovery at 8:23 mpm pace, 81°F at 12:30PM [FWRes]
Su – 13½ miles average pace of 7:31 mpm, clear and sunny to hazy sun later, 74°F to 76°F from 10AM [FWRes/2x2M-MBTrail/FWRes]

Saturday and Sunday’s runs were out on the river dike. I haven’t run this portion of the dike for a couple of years because of ongoing construction at the hurricane pumping station. On Sunday I combined this portion with a couple runs on the Bottomlands Park trails for a 13½ mile run with only one mile on a street. On Saturday I scared up several deer. Because there’s only a narrow strip of land along the dike, I got to watch them run at least a quarter mile. They’re so graceful. A little farther down I saw what looked like a small brown dog with spindly legs on the dike. It went into the tall grass and never reappeared. I stopped running and crept up to where it disappeared and discovered a small spotted fawn hiding in the grass. I’ve never seen one so close before. On Sunday there was a huge alligator at the base of the dike. It must’ve been at least 12 feet long.

My left Achilles is feeling a little tender again. I think my Saucony Tangent-3s are finally coming to their end. They’ve worked out well but they’re being discontinued in June. I might wait until the closeout sales to buy another pair. AAFES has DS Trainer-13s now at $81 so I might try them. REI has some closeout DS Trainer-12s for $55, but they only have sizes up to 12. I need 13s for my big feet.