Adding Some Structure to My Training

I've been running for a little over a year now, and I finally decided that it was time to add some structure to my morning runs. I'm "officially" going to devote my first two runs of the week to speed training. My third run of the week will be a more relaxed run designed to help me recover from the two previous runs, and to help me prepare for my long Saturday runs. I am also thinking about moving my Tuesday morning run to Wednesday for a few reasons. First, now that I am running 20+ miles every other weekend, my legs are still a little tired on the Mondays following. After a Saturday long run and 5 miles each Monday, my legs just don't want to move too quickly on my Tuesday 7-mile runs. Moving this run to Wednesday will give me a day off in the middle, and will allow my weekly runs to gradually grow in intensity and plateau the very day before my recovery runs.

This morning's run was, as cheesy as it sounds, very pleasant. It was the first time in a while that I have intentionally let myself run a little slower--just trying to stay limber for Saturday and to rest up from the speed work from earlier in the week. There was a light, cool breeze that made things even nicer. Unfortunately, no rabbits to tell my daughter about. Incident-free, which was nice.

4-2-09
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 42:30
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:35