Monday run/Tuesday run

Monday run:
Started out week 8 of the Cool Running Couch to 5k plan, 28 minutes. We covered about 2.3 miles along the same route that I mapped around Bergfeld Park on my Daily Mile account. First mile was 11:45, second mile was 12:45. The last portion was about an 11:30 pace (we made an effort to kick it up a bit). I wasn't super thrilled about the pace, but I got through it. Objectively, it's not bad at all. Considering we ran the Komen 5k at an average pace of 12:52, I'm making really significant strides.

I definitely feel most comfortable (in my stride/joints/etc) at about 10:00-10:30. I just can't run that fast over the course of a run, yet. I'm trying to add in a little bit of informal speed work, but I don't know if I'm applying it scientifically enough to make a difference.

I didn't have any issues with aches or pains for this whole run, which was awesome. Mentally, I flagged a bit at the beginning (around 10 minutes) and 3/4 through (a little after 21 minutes).

Tuesday run:
Same time (28 minutes), different route. Normally my second run is on Wednesday, but I'm going out of town this weekend to a convention so I thought I'd compress my running schedule. I didn't plan to run on Tuesday (normally, I have a karate class) but I didn't make it to class this week after some delays at the primary election polling site.

We covered 2.37 miles, apparently, which put us at an average pace of 11:48. That's not bad at all. I'm curious to see what kind of splits we hit next time we run that course. Matt and I played the animal guessing game for the last half, because I was really dropping off. I didn't have any physiological complaints, I just didn't want to run after about 8 minutes. I had an overall malaise that made this run kind of a slog.

Running two days back to back is rough. We've got another run planned for today (Wednesday), which I may postpone. I can definitely feel the effects of not having a rest day in my feet and hips; it's not "pain", just fatigue. I had a lot of problem on this Tuesday run maintaining my form. I got real flopsy. I don't want to set myself up for injury or burnout.

Overall
Anyway, that's where I am so far in the week. I definitely need to invest in some non-cotton running clothes ASAP, and remember that red Gatorade tastes like medicine. Blech.