4 Miles Hard

4.02 Miles
27:41
6:52 pace

Woot Woot, course PR on my 4 mile loop.

I've been thinking about running sub-7 for a four mile training run for over a year now and suddenly it happened.

I planned to run fast today but didn't really expect this.  Got off to a good start and hit my first mile at 6:53.  Normally it takes me longer to get the legs going so I had to really focus on fast turnover to start that fast.  By that first mile mark I was staining and wasn't sure how long I'd keep it up.

2nd mile is rolling hills.  Tore down the first downhill and hit the first uphill pretty strong.  Then tore down the second down hill and struggled up the second uphill.  Felt some leg fatigue in the quads on the climb... remanence of a hard Wednesday run and biking Thursday.  After the 2nd hill there's 1/2 mile stretch of slightly inclining grade to the 2nd mile mark.  Seemed like I was slowing down but kept pushing, figuring I'd at least see how fast I could hit the 2 mile mark.  2nd mile was 7:04 pace.

3rd mile starts with a slight incline for ~1/2 mile and ends with a slight decline for ~1/2 mile.  Tried to keep the pace steady and hit the 3rd mile at 6:59 pace... at this point I was averaging ~6:59 pace and figured if I finished strong I should break 7 min pace no problem.

4th mile starts with a short hill...  It always looks like it should be a tough climb but for whatever reason it always feels great when I run it.  Seems like based on my leg fatigue this hill always feels good.  Just engages the muscles differently and makes them feel strong.  After the hill it's mostly downhill for about 3/4 mile.  Last mile, 6:31 pace.

Really happy about the run and pace and really feeling my fitness build... Hoping I can keep it up with out burning out or getting hurt....  And if I can maintain that pace for 22.2 more miles I can break 3 for the marathon.

Today's run wrapped up my 2nd 25 mile week in a row and also a 93 mile month.  Average pace for the month 8:01.

Next month I'll maybe slow it down a bit and should be able to break 100 miles for the month.