Well I did get to run outside this morning and while it was not great, I was ready to get off the treadmill after yesterday’s laborious 5.0 miler. Yeah, I got the workout done, but at the 5.0 mile of the planned 6.0, it was time to get off. It has been a long winter and while the treadmill has been a great tool, I am ready to do most of my running outside again.

This morning was overcast, mid 30’s, with a bit of breeze. Not totally horrible for a good run, but a few degrees warmer would have been nice.

However, I was tired of running in Augusta, so I headed up to Waterville for a change of pace. The plan called for 5.0 today, but by the time I got to the turn at the end of First Rangeway, I knew that I would need to find some bushes to stand behind or hope that my black tights hid the accident that was going to happen fairly soon. I headed towards Colby instead of the planned run towards Silver Street, there are woods on the way to Colby.

Once that got taken care of I was able to focus a lot better on running.

Actually, once I got going I was feeling pretty good and decided to go back via Lincoln St. I wasn’t pushing all that hard and felt strong, then coming down Lincoln Street Hill, my speed just seemed to pick up naturally, so I just tried to maintain it.

When I passed the 6.0 mile mark, I might have picked it up to close to my half marathon race pace – just to see what it felt like off the treadmill. I was able to maintain it without too much difficulty.

However, even after training most of the winter, I have a feeling that holding a 7:40 to 7:50 pace for the full half marathon ain’t gonna happen for this old fart. I can probably break 8:00, but faster than that, I have a feeling that the body is going to rebel more than a little. Plus, I really don’t have a race I am training for and if I am honest with myself, I don’t have any plans to race a half anytime soon. It is not something that I am all that interested in doing. I think using the Hansons Half Method was a great way to develop a nice base for me going into the Spring and Summer, but I don’t see me racing that far.

I have some thoughts that have been banging around in my head about where I want to take my running when my next training cycle starts on Monday. Stay tuned.

I did run in the Tempo 9s this morning and they did great!!! While I like the Beacons better for the treadmill, the T9s are better outside I think. Also since I have been running primarily in the Beacons I have noticed that my right ankle has a touch of soreness, that didn’t bother when I ran today. So maybe the little extra bit of support that the Tempo 9s give is just enough to stop the right ankle from complaining too much.

Something to think about.

Overall, a very nice run, but I would prefer to get it up into the 40/50 degree range, so I can ditch the tights and jacket. It is coming, but like I said at the start – it has been a loooooonnnnnnggggg arse wintah.