4 miles

Things have been unusually quiet around here on the running front because I haven't been running. Part of the reason was because I probably was a bit burned out, and coupled with the heat and humidity the summer was pretty much dead after the couple of races I ran. So basically a month of no running went by and now I'm restarting in time for the winter. My goal basically is to slowly work up to 25-30 miles by late December/early January and stick with it to February, when I'll incorporate training for half marathons.

Right now, I'm working running consistently and focusing on overall fitness. I'm going about 3-4 times a week and doing ab work before runs, then do some yoga at least 2 days a week on days I don't run.

Today's 4 miles went by alright, though the loss of fitness and speed is obviously present. However, I didn't regress as much as I thought in the month of doing absolutely nothing so it shouldn't take me longer than three weeks before I feel comfortable running. I was able to maintain about a 9:30 pace the first three miles, speeding up to an 8:30 the last mile. The weather was great and cool, skies on the overcast side. I focused on a forefoot strike and taking smaller, quicker steps, something I've found is most beneficial to my running. I do need to work on actually making sure to run slower, though, as it's always been my tendency to run faster than necessary.

So far so good for my second week.