Sprinting To The Finish

I did my run yesterday and during the start of my run I still was not sure if I wanted to make it a long run or a speed run.  I had set my goal for 4.5 miles before the run, so I decided to make it a long run.  There was a problem with that decision, however, in that with the app I use on my phone to track my runs, I can only use the coaching feature to track distance, pace, or a few other aspects of running, but not multiple.  It has to be one or the other.  When I crossed the first mile and heard what my pace was I was annoyed at the slowness of my speed, but I decided to press on.  Then I heard my second mile and decided it was time to kick it up a notch on speed. 

At the three mile mark, I had decreased my overall pace for the run, but I wasn't satisfied, so I kicked it into a gear I didn't know I had!  When I finished the last part of the run, I had simply run out of steam.  Then I looked at my splits and realized that if I could have held on for just another tenth of a mile, I would have run a mile in under 9 minutes.  Talk about disappointment!  The good news I can takeaway from this is that I should be able to kick up my 5K race pace now when I hit that last mile in any 5K race.  If I can stay at a 10:30 to 11:00 pace for the first two miles, then hit that fourth gear and get in the last mile in under nine minutes, I should be able to break that 30 minute barrier I so want to break!   At least in theory anyway.

 But enough of my rambling.  Here are the stats for last night's run:

10/28/2012 Run Stats

Here are the split times.  Pay attention to the times and how they started decreasing.  I am going to attempt to start duplicating that even after my long runs to build up stamina and speed.

10/28/2012 Split Times

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!