Twenty -- Sat. Feb. 12

Had a route planned for almost 21 miles, but changed it midway to shave off a bit. This has been a step up week, from 50 to 55, and my long run too, going from 18 last Sat. to 20 now, and though it felt like a light week, I just didn't have enough spare today. Partly from the hilly first half? Down GeoHannum/Boardman to Eskett, then up over Barton/Mt View -- target pace was 7:30~7:45, and I was easily inside it, but I think there was more effort going on than I realised. It was a bit chilly, so I mainly kept gloves on, and hat, but I was in shorts. At the top of MtView, along OakRidge to Summit, then down to TurkeyHill and Rckrmmn and out to 21; right then left into OldSpfld. Still feeling okay (even deviated onto a snowmobile trail briefly) at about 9 miles as I pass BHS, then up to town and down 181, to tuck into jensen for the loop we did twice last Sunday. At that point, mile 11 or so, I started to feel it a bit in soreness, but chugged on okay. Original plan was to do the Aldrich loop twice, but it's a bit longer, at almost 4 miles, (and hillier) than I felt like, so on the second pass of Jensen I turned to the familiar and went up OldEnfld from Jabish, with that mile (uphill) being the slowest of the route (mile 17 @ 8:12). Then on to Allen and along to 202, straight down to 9 and back homewards, running along GeoHannum until I had 20, then stopping and jogging home off the clock. Overall:

Time: 2:32:01
Distance: 20.02 miles
Pace: 7:35s

Comment: sore in various ways after this (especially the 2.5 hrs straight), but useful. Just *not* as strong as I need to be yet, but the basic pace and endurance is more or less on track. MPace needs to be 20 seconds faster all round, but I'm going to work on that. This one had a total climb of almost 950 ft, whereas the Gansett should be much flatter. I'd better check that. . .