4 down, 9 to go

I'm still on holiday this week so managed to do my 3 mile recovery run yesterday and my faster 4 mile run this morning. It's so much easier to get up & go running when you don't have to go to work!

Yesterday Flino and I ran a steady 3 miles around Darley Park, my legs felt good after a day resting on the sofa on Sunday. The pace got quicker during the last mile and I ended up sprinting up Kedleston Road trying to keep up. 

My splits were:
Mile 1 9.59
Mile 2 10.06
Mile 3 10.05

On my plan for today was - 

" Warm up, 40 mins at 9 - 9.15 minute miles, cool down"

I decided to do the run this morning rather than try and fit it in with the Derwent Runners usual club run tonight as Rob had stressed the importance of them:

I wanted to make sure I ran at the right pace and had found it hard last week at the club run as I always talk too much! I also wanted to have a go at running a faster pace on my own rather than have Flino pace me. 

I got up & ate my breakfast, watched some Olympic news, did some dynamic stretches - these are my favourites:

If I do these before I run I don't get that 'lead legs' feeling.

I jogged for half a mile and then increased my pace to the prescribed 9 - 9.15. It felt surprisingly ok, I kept checking my watch to make sure I was running at the right speed and headed down City Road. I turned up Haslams Lane and into Darley Park, ran past the tennis courts and back to Chester Green. I did a loop of the Green to add on some distance and then turned back towards the car park, over the Iron Bridge and back up to home. 

The last half a mile was hard, I wanted to slow down and could hear my Darth Vader breathing creeping in. I didn't have the sprint finish of yesterday but managed to keep going until the 40 minutes were up.  These were my splits:

Mile 1 10.01 (including .5 mile warm up)
Mile 2 9.12
Mile 3 9.18
Mile 4 9.12
Mile 5 4.29 (.5 of a mile)

Overall I was pretty pleased with myself! Just another 9 to do at that pace....