Objective
5 mi. Tempo @ 6:50

Achieved
WU 7:04 min.
5.02 mi.@ 6:51
CD 7:33 min.

5:04 AM

Wasn't sure what to expect from this run. It's been several months since I've ran a tempo or raced. I really don't have any indication of my current fitness. Today would tell. I wasn't sure about my routing either. The Lakefront is really uneven for long stretches and there can be a lot of bike and foot traffic. On the other hand, I'm not familiar with the Riverwalk for the distance that I'd need. It also crosses several intersections. I opted for the Lakefront only because of familiarity. From the Hyatt, I eased my way down to the Lakefront. My Garmin didn't pick up any satellites for that stretch so it recorded 0.0 miles for 7:04. While it was rebooting, I did dynamic stretches. The sun was already above the Lake Michigan horizon which surprised me for this early. After the Garmin found itself, I was off. I bounced around a little bit at the outset trying to find the pace. Once I found it, I thought there would be no way I would be able to hold it. I was happy to note a resurfacing project had improved much of the worst section of the trail. To get the proper mileage, I kept going north farther than I have before. It was new territory but the trail was busy today so it was easy to see the way far ahead. At 2.25 miles was no turn around. Of course, I wasn't supposed to stop here but I did. I caught my breath, chastised myself for stopping then started back. I just tried to find a rhythm and keep it steady. The pace slipped a bit but once I noticed, I was always able to bring it back in line ... with effort. Once back at Ohio Street Beach, I still had about .5 mile to finish and knew I didn't want to be on the streets heading back to the hotel. Instead I turned and went out the Navy Pier. Fortunately I hit 5 miles before I ran out of pier. It was a good run. Although I'm not exactly where I'd like to be, I'm not that far off.

I cooled down back to the hotel, grabbed a chocolate milk and hopped into an ice bath while eating some warm oatmeal. I'm writing this from the tub right now.

Tomorrow will be an important day to gauge how I feel. After Tuesday on the track and today's tempo, I want to be attentive to how my body is dealing with the increased load - volume and intensity. In addition to the ice bath, I'll wear compression socks all day. Tomorrow's run is an easy recovery run.

Oh, forgot to mention that I missed last night's group run for national running day. I hustled out of the office early to check in at the hotel and change clothes. Unfortunately I had left my running shoes at the office and didn't have enough time to go back and get them. That's okay. Even though I probably missed out on a good run that would have been informative, I most likely wouldn't have been able to pull off this morning's run had I run last night.

Pre run
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Post run
Chocolate milk & instant oatmeal w/skim milk
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