A new 8 mile PR

I woke up at 3:30 today to run with my early morning running group for the first time in about 6 weeks.

I didn't really know what to expect.  My hips flexors and legs were a bit sore and I rolled them out with the foam roller before driving out to meet with the group.

It had been since July 16 since I really put in a good 8-9 mile steady state run (although I did run 8 miles at 7:15 pace 2 days ago on Tuesday so maybe that's not exactly true).  The temperature was 57 degrees which was good but the humidity was still up.

My plan was to just run with the guys for the first few miles and then take off if I felt good figuring I was in better shape than anyone else.  Instead we took off fast (not my fault), hitting 7:26 for the first mile and then dropped the pace and didn't run another mile above 7 min pace (6:50, 6:43, 6:52, 6:58, 6:53, 6:50, and a 6:23 final mile).

For the most part the run felt pretty darn good.  My legs were tiring on mile 5 and were probably the most limiting factor.  Aerobically I felt okay.  The only time I was really hurting was on the last mile which I was pushing pretty hard.  I was hoping to get down to 6:15 pace but only managed a 6:23.  I'll blame the leg fatigue from all the training on this one.

Final stats:  

8.01 miles

55:00 

6:52 pace

This was a 8 mile PR for me (though I ran a 15K at a slightly faster pace of 6:51).  If I knew it was going to be so fast I probably could have shaved some off during the first mile, but I guess it's good to warm up a bit.

My stomach cramped for a  while after the run but it didn't last too long.  Haven't had that feeling for a while and didn't miss it.  Sour stomach is the one thing that makes me not like running but luckily it doesn't bother me too often except for on these long hard sustained efforts.