16 myles - 2.00:11

Sante Fe out/back - 11:00 a.m.
overcast, 20-30 degrees
South wind, mud-snow road
body/mind - fine
easy effort

Half way through my week of 4 - 16 + mile runs, feeling pretty good! Got caught out in the weather today. Started out about 30 something degrees (in shorts) and two hours later it was a balmy 20 degrees..... in shorts. I don't think I sweat at all today although I did take 16 oz of water for good measure. The last two days I have not taken any calories with me so that I can boost my glycogen stores.

I settled into a pace that was completely comfortable and was breathing very relaxed. I'm not putting too much thought into my time because..... well, what's more important at this point is that I'm getting time on my feet, feeling very strong in the end and recovering very quick. My first/last splits were 6:46/6:48 so pretty even effort all the way around.

I do believe my mind set is changing. For instance, last year I was so concerned about each and every split, every run. The reason for this (speed) was for the simple fact that I wanted to cruise more efficiently at a faster pace. During races last year my strategy was to use that speed early on, create a gap, and hang on till the end. In a few (maybe more than a few) instances that came back to bite me in the butt because I couldn't hang on and suffered mightily. This year I've come to the conclusion that I need quite a few more longer, sustained runs of 4 + hours rather than shorter speed workouts. Having said all that, I'm building right now to get to a base of 90-100 mile weeks as opposed to 50-60 mile weeks last year. My mid weeks runs have to be 16 myles or 2+ hours and on the weekends get a 30 or 40 mile run in. Jasper Halekas took up this strategy last year which catapulted him into the "elite" status if you will.... maybe not "elite" status for me but definitely winning a few races could be the result. Life is made of either reasons or results.