Sunday Long Run = Whoops

So this morning after a little breakfast and relaxation with the pups I decided to head out for my long run of the week. Since it's early in the season my long run isn't very long...only 11 miles. Last week I went out for 10 miles and had the dogs with me the whole time, seeing how they were dragging at the end of the run I didn't want to do that to them again. I decided that they are good for about 7 miles at a time. So today I went out with the intention of running 7 with them, dropping them off at home and then finished up with 4 more miles.

It was an awesome morning to run! A little cool, and windy but more importantly it was sunny. The time with the dogs was great, we were clipping along nicely and probably a little faster than I should have been going, but I just went with it. We made it back home and I dropped them off just to take off again. When I took off they were looking out of the front window barking and whining because they wanted to keep going. I felt bad but had to keep going. I didn't want them to crash out, and don't want them to hurt themselves by pushing them any further. I also wanted to push the pace a bit for the last 4 miles. Here is the breakdown of the mile splits today:

Mile 1 = 6:47

Mile 2 = 6:39

Mile 3 = 6:41

Mile 4 = 6:48

Mile 5 - 6:39

Mile 6 = 6:44

Mile 7 = 6:46

Mile 8 = 6:35

Mile 9 = 6:40

Mile 10 = 6:37

Mile 11 = 6:38

Overall it was a 6:41 pace, which is faster than last weeks 10 mile run, but my heart rate was also higher. I felt comfortable the whole time though so I'm ok with it I guess.

Exactly a year ago I ran 11 miles as well for my long run on this Sunday. I ran it with Noel and Wanner at Waterfall Glen and ended up holding a 7:53 pace. So a year later I'm running one minute and twelve seconds faster per mile...I can definitely appreciate that kind of improvement. I'm not sure what exactly to attribute that to because that's a significant improvement in a year. The cool thing too is that I have more time until my "A" race, and I'm already ahead of where I was last year. The key is to keep this going! Any motivation you want to throw my way I will take. Things are going well. Time to go swim!

Oh yea and I'll have a post of my "Chicago Winter Ice Bath" soon enough, probably tomorrow. I figure that I'll try to use what nature gives us for my ice bath. It's a bit chilly!