April 27, 2013 (Saturday)

228.5 when I woke up this morning and 226 after my morning run.

Was 226.5 yesterday morning.

I was finally able to do a good outdoor run today – I got up early and ran in the park.  The run itself was 10 miles in 1:38:57 – definitely slower than on the treadmill but still above 6 mph.  The run itself felt good with no issues and I completed it with no walking at all and no fuel during the run.  Breakfast before the run was 2 protein shakes and a banana.

I do 2.2 mile laps in the park (so today was 4 x 2.2 plus some extra distance to complete the 10 miles) and it was interesting to see how my speed fluctuated during the laps:

• The first lap was the fastest – usually takes a bit for me to settle in and find my pace and my air but as I am fresh it is usually my fastest lap even when I take it easy like I was doing today.
• The second lap was actually the slowest of the 4 today – by this point I am running well and have my wind but this is where I usually have to break through mental barriers such as not wanting to put the time in that is needed and where I usually end up having to push through work stress and other things that can drag me down
• The third lap was very solid – was within 10 seconds of the first lap for time.  So I have broken through my issues from the second lap and I have settled into a nice pace and feel good overall.
• The fourth lap was solid – was slower than the first and third but not as slow as the second.  Still feeling good but at this point probably starting to run out of fuel and this is where I need to look at making sure I am fuelling for the longer runs.
• The last 1.2 miles were hit and miss – had plenty of energy but as couldn’t do my normal lap for this one I was trying to find a good path to hit the distance I needed and had to turn and back track a few times slowing down my pace – but still solid.

Overall though my pace was pretty steady with the difference between the slowest and fastest laps being only about 35 seconds.

I never felt out of breath or out of energy the whole run but it also wasn’t nearly as fast as I have been doing on the treadmill for the same distance.  I don’t think this has to do with any cheating on the treadmill or anything like that – I think it has more to do with setting the pace on the treadmill and just not falling off versus having to mentally drive the pace when running outside.  This will definitely be something I will need to work on further – push on the treadmill during the weekday runs to keep my cardio and energy levels up and then practice a lot more pacing on the outdoor runs during the weekend long runs.  As we get further into May, I may have to start doing some of the weekday runs outside as well.