My leg felt better than in the previous run, so I allowed a slightly faster pace in the second part.
Half #146: cautious return
This was my first run in 5 days, as I was carefully seeing what my bothered hamstring was willing to accept. It wasn’t bad! Bonus: I ran into my friend Ben Kerby and got to welcome him back from his extensive months-long travels!
Half #145: Hamstrung
My left hamstring tightened up pretty badly around mile 12, so I cut a couple miles from my planned 16 and slowly made it home. Hoping it was just a cramp, but it is the hamstring that bothered me for a while back in June/July, and still hurts hours later, so I may need to ease off for a bit.
Half #144: South Island coast half
Windy again from an upcoming storm, so I chose the coast route to minimize risk of fallen trees/branches. Somehow, the Crystal Springs/Point White area always seems to have a headwind in both directions (I think the wind was rushing up the middle of the Point). Ran this one with a slight progression, but largely at at sub-7:30min/mi pace.
Half #143: damage assessment half
Yesterday a bomb cyclone came through our area, so today’s run gave me the opportunity to survey the damage on our local trails. Trails with sizable downed trees were Veterane, Kojima, and Lost Valley. Trails that were basically clear: Gazzam main, Peter’s, “Quiet Valley,” Knudsen, Westwood Shores, and Springridge.
Half #142: South-end cross-Island
Keeping a (fairly) consistent pace and aiming for the top of my “zone 2” heart rate.
Half #140 and 141: South Island coast marathon
To get a better sense of my current conditioning, I started with the faster miles on this one: 18 miles at 7:10min/mi, followed by 8.4 miles at a recovery pace of 9:00min/mi.
Half #139: I don’t always run a half-marathon…
Wait, no, maybe I do. 🙂 I just noticed that my last ten runs have all been half-marathons (or a little more), and I think that my body has notes. Looking forward to a shorter run for the next one. For this run, I kept easy pace and heart rate.
Half #138: South Island coast half
Once again, a run building to a sustained pace around 7:00-7:15min/mi.
Half #137: my highest mileage year ever!
I’ve now surpassed last year’s 2,323 miles, which itself was almost 1,000 miles higher than any previous year. The run itself was my south-end cross-Island route at an easy pace.