Off on a Tangent

OBJECTIVE
5 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

ACHIEVED
5.08 mi.@ 8:07/mi.

5:16 AM 65° 90% 9 mph

If you read my running you know I oftentimes play some mental game with myself to pass time on my solo runs. I had two things going on this morning.

First, I decided to try running the tangents over my whole run today. I figured I've run this five-mile route dozens of times and I believe the shortest distance recorded by my GPS is 5.10 miles. Of course, I'm not rigid in my exact path of the course but I run against traffic (like all runners should) and generally follow the same routine. I also understand that handheld GPS lacks perfect precision. I've wondered about what is gained in races by running the tangents. So today's distance came out to be 5.08. So there is something to be gained by running the tangents (I should say that I was knocked off my line a few times this morning by oncoming vehicles.) If today's run was .02 shorter than my previous short on this course that ends up being about 105 feet. That is a huge difference at the end of a race.

My second little game this morning was just running negative splits. For some reason this morning I woke up with 8:30/8:20/8:10/8:00/7:50 in my head. In know that's weird. I actually tried going back to sleep ... and was partially successful but those numbers never left my mind. Today's run was 8:40/8:12/8:03/7:59/7:44. I know negative splits should not be the focus of an "easy" run but that's just how it worked out today.


My calves were fairly tight throughout today's run. I suppose it's the mile repeats on the track yesterday.

PRE RUN
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & honey-almond granola w/1% milk