Back to 5 miles

I haven't run 5 miles since June 22nd. After that week, I decided to start a training plan that started me out at a lower mileage. Then, three weeks ago on my 5 mile day, I hurt my knee and stopped at 4. But today I did 5 miles again!!

It's 11 weeks until my half-marathon. All I have to do is run 1 mile farther each week on my long run days to build up to the 13 miles of the half-marathon and then have a couple weeks to taper so I'm "fresh" for race day.

(Oh, I didn't blog about Friday's run because I got busy doing things. On Friday, I just did two miles. The second mile included a pretty long hill. My first mile was 11:14 and my second was 11:15).

Because today was my long run day (and a weekend), I decided it was worth going to find a pretty place to run. So I hopped in my car and drove up to Cedarvale Park, which is just a few blocks north of the apartment I've applied for and am hoping to get (this is apartment application #3). It's a beautiful park and it links up with the ravine trails.

So, I got to run in an area that didn't feel like the city at all, and at least half of the run was on trail instead of concrete (better for my joints!). The only problem is that 5 miles is actually a really long distance. And as big and long as the park and ravine are, they are not 2.5 miles long, so I threw in some neighborhood running and looping back along the trail to make my "there and back" 5 miles.

Ok, so the length isn't actually the only problem with the park and the trails and that are in general. The other problem is that they're really hilly! So, i did a lot of hill work today, which is really good for getting my heart rate up but is also exhausting for my legs!

I think I'll use that park and those ravines for some of my 5k days and find a flatter course for my long run days.

Here are my very slow (but who cares?) times and my heartrates for today's run:
Mile 1: 13:32 137bpm
Mile 2: 13:10 144bpm
Mile 3: 14:26 149bpm
Mile 4: 14:07 151bpm
Mile 5: 13:00 159bpm (this was my fastest mile because I picked up my pace significantly for the last 1/3 mile--nothing like knowing the end is in sight to help you speed up!)

Overall average: 13:39 147bpm