I'll finally contribute to this thread.

 

I ended up bailing on my workout a few days ago. I had spent a half week running in the mountains (including a beastly 21.4 mi run) and ended up with a quad that was super cranky. I turned my tempo into a MP run a few days ago, but even that was too much. I was hobbling just running easy. I didn't know what to expect for this morning's long run.  I headed out super easy, but the pace increased. I kept saying, "slow down, dummy", and I would, but it never lasted long. At the turn around I figure I would have to slow. It was 19 degrees out, and on the way back I had a vicious headwind.  My clothes were wet and it was freezing, plus it was so strong at times it felt like it was pushing you back (welcome to running on Chicago's lakefront).  It made my eyes (or contacts) feel like they were freezing and burning. Everything got foggy and blurry, but that's ok. (When I got home, my eyes were the most astonishing shade of red). I was surprised to see that I was still keeping a nice pace and it felt really relaxed and easy.  Anyways, at the end of the run I discovered that I had run the fastest pace of any long run I have ever done. Ever. Not bad for a 28 mile run!

That IS a good run.  Impressed.

PS - do you wear sunglasses?  On windy runs like that I'll wear them no matter sunny or not.  Sometimes I'll swap the clear lenses in but mostly I just go with the tinted lenses.  Helps with the eye thing.

Very nice.

 

 I was about to wuss out on running in the cold and wind this afternoon but after catching up here, I'm going to get my ass out the door.  Thanks WG!

14° with steady 25 mph winds (wind chill -6°...I sucked it up and got my run in.  Wore sun glasses too.  Even with them, my eyes were tearing up.  Fortunately the out portion was mostly into the wind, which made for a pleasant return trip.  It's always better getting strides in with the wind to your back anyway.

6 x 0.5 miles @ 5:18 (2:39) with 0.25 jog rests @ 8:00 (2:00)

 

So, based on what my times/goals are recently, if you believe McMillan suggested paces, this is a workout I’m supposed to be doing. So “good” I guess is a relative term. But, cripes, I’ve never done 800 repeats at that pace before, so I’m kinda pleased. It was hard (like I’m glad it was over when it was over), but not ridiculous hard.

 

And this marks the end of my third year of this current running project. So there’s that.

 

Onwards.

Nice workout and congrats on your running journey. I can see a sub-17 5k in your future if you keep rolling along the way you've been recently.

I had a good workout today. 2 mile warm up, 3 X 1 mile hill repeats (400ft elevation gain each) on singletrack, hard up, walk around a bit, hard down, 2 mile cool down.

--For context during a 9.6 mile race that included the same hill in December I ran that mile in about 13:30 (the hill actually keeps climbing for another mile so I was being fairly conservative, and while I was likely close to the best I could do that day, it was not a good day). My really easy pace up that hill is usually around 15-16 min miles--

up (not sure about the effort level, but my breathing was similar to the first mile of a 5k):

11:23, started WAY too fast, spent the second half on the edge of giving up and unable to maintain speed without going to all out, pass out at the top effort

11:54, much better pacing, last quarter sucked, which is probably about right

11:56

5:30 walking recovery after each (except the last... was getting chilled)

down (practicing relaxing, not braking, and not losing speed on tight turns):

9:27

9:23

9:26

took about 3-4 minutes walking to psych myself up for the next climb and let my right foot stop throbbing (hit the ball of my foot on a pointy rock Thursday, think its a little bruised)

So, felt like a pretty solid workout. Hopefully I can find somewhere flat to run tomorrow!

Background: never really been a road runner; I've been running on trails since I started running consistently  (about a year). The whole concept of pace is a little vague to me. I mostly just run at what ever speed feels comfortable. So, I've got a good feel for the various flavors of easy but not so much for hard efforts. Working on that.

10 x 400.. and almost died. Wanted to stop during the w/u. Then wanted to stop after 5.. then after 8.. but made it to the end...thankfully.

I had a nice one this morning.  Fought my night-owl ways, got up at 0440, and met a couple youngsters for some track work.  The plan called for 8x800@3:05 ... a slower version, ratcheted down by the coach I'd been unable to sustain 3:00 for this workout a couple weeks ago.  Averaged 2:57 this morning on the same 2:30 recovery, and with way better form and less oxygen debt.