The Penultimate Mile

Last night we met with our landlord and his repair person to re-sign our lease and go over the big and little issues that have come up with our house over the past year. Because of this meeting I didn't get out for my easy four mile run until 7:30. A full hour beyond when I usually run.

I guess I had some pent-up energy or just wanted to make sure I got home before dark, but I went a little crazy in the first mile. Oops.

My body rebelled in the second mile and I slowed down significantly and walked a little bit. That was okay, though, because it allowed me to actually look around. What I saw made me wish I had brought my camera with me. First I saw a cute dog lounging on top of a picnic table in someone's backyard.


Not this dog. Another dog.

Then I saw someone riding a bike like the one pictured above! There were three boys riding in the street. One on a bike like that, one on a bike with a little tiny front wheel, and one on a regular bike. What a sight!

I picked up the pace somewhat for the last mile because I wanted to tackle the (only) hill on my route and be strong about it. Overall, though, my pace last night was certainly not "easy"!



July's issues of Runner's World has an interesting (if not a little overwhelming) article in it about running your fastest 5K. Since my first 5K of 2009 is this Saturday, I was intrigued. Other than A LOT of talk about hill work (aside: can we please quit talking about hills? I'm freaked out enough about my half-marathon in July and the hills. Quit rubbing it in that I can't do hill work!) the one thing that stuck in my mind was that you should train by teaching yourself to push it hard during the penultimate mile. That tends to be when you slack off because you know you can push it hard during the last mile. I obviously failed at that last night, but it's something I'll have to remember the next time I have a 5K coming up. I think Wednesday night's easy three miles is probably too late to effect any lasting speed changes.

Speaking of my 5K....I'm still looking for one of the following: Someone to run it with me, someone to come cheer for me, or someone to come take some photos for my scrapbook so that I don't have to ask strangers. It's Saturday evening at 5PM in the northwest 'burbs of Chicago. Registration's still open!!

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Monday night's stats:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 628 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 06/08/09 Up/Downhill: [+82/-78] Time: 07:35 PM Difficulty: 2.0 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   74 F temp; 68% humidity   74 F heat index; winds NW 13 Performance Distance: 4.01 miles Time: 0:36:52 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 12 /mi Calories: 425 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 7' 34 -1' 38 7.9 +1.4 +7 ft 2 9' 08 -0' 04 6.6 +0.0 +17 ft 3 10' 03 +0' 51 6.0 -0.6 -17 ft 4 9' 39 +0' 27 6.2 -0.3 -4 ft end 9' 37 +0' 25 6.2 -0.3 0 ft Versus average of 9' 12 min/mile

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