Back at the miles

It feels good to be back in Austin and to be settling back into my routine. Yesterday, I still had some of my business trip mindset and had trouble getting in my miles. I only did 5.2 instead of 10. No matter, I'll build the missing miles into the other days of the week.

This morning's run went really well. I started with Tara and Dionn, and we navigated the early uphill part of the run at a pretty conservative talking pace. I think the uphill and talking made it feel a little harder than it should have been. Tara turned off at Red River so that she could make it to work, so Dionn and I continued through to Duval and 53rd. I had another bathroom emergency today that landed me in my new favorite coffee house on North Loop. They were so nice...this time they offered us water. At Grover, I turned right to follow the 14 mile route and Dionn went on her way to finish 12. As I was approaching the turn back onto Woodrow, I witnessed a large part of the black short gang barreling down Woodrow. It was a sight. They were flying.

I managed to catch up with the gang at the water stop and got swept up by them for a mile or so. It was awesome to feel as fast as them, even if I was going my own pace...I would drop off of the back of the group and then at a light or roads with traffic, I would gain some ground. Of course, I was jammin' to my iPod music, so I had a little help in keeping up.

The rest of the run felt really fast. I missed about 5 minutes of time on my watch this morning, so I had to estimate my total time at 2:01. 14 miles at that pace is well under 9:00, and most of the trip going north was not at that fast pace. I would imagine there were periods of the downhill way back to where I was going 7:45 pace. I actually felt that fast today. Woohoo. I guess that's what a little forced recovery week will produce.

This week will be 80-85 miles, then 90 next week, then who knows. I'll likely stick to 90, but I have an alternate plan for 100 if I feel good.