Progression

I used to subscribe to Runner's World. Not finding it all that useful and sometimes feeling inadequate compared to their cover models, I decided not to renew the subscription when it ran out. In an attempt to woo me back, they sent me a complimentary copy of the July 2008 issue in which there is an article about progression runs (which I read while falling asleep on the couch). I decided to make today's run an attempt at a progression run. I remembered last week, running with Amy at a somewhat slower pace, I felt great pretty much the whole time, despite it being a very, very hot day.

Headed down to the Art Museum around 7am, trying to beat the heat, though there's no beating the humidity. I remembered in the article reading about breaking the run down into three segments, trying to make each segment progressively faster. Given that I haven't done a good, long run in a while, I decided to think of this run as a 6 mile run (3 two-mile segments) with the extra two and a half tacked on at the end for good measure. So, the first two miles were a nice and easy 9:20 pace. I had no trouble maintaining the pace and could feel the urge to run faster. I wanted miles 3 and 4 to be at a 9 minute pace, but I over (or under) shot my goal and the miles came in at 8:53 and 8:55, respectively. At this point I was hot and a bit tired, but I tried to push through and surprised myself by turning in mile 5 at 8:37 and mile 6 at 8:31 ... and then just because I was feeling like it, mile 7 came in at 8:30. Now I was really hot and tired. I took it easy during mile 8 - running about a 9 minute pace. I accidentally hit the stop button instead of the split button at the eight mile marker, so I don't know what I did for that last half mile, and, really, it matters not.

8 miles in 70:40 ... the other half mile ???