Another 11

Hit the metro park this morning and did my now-standard second 11-miler of the week. It was upper 30's when I started so I brought out a hat for the first time this fall and opted for track pants and a long sleeve. Still not cold enough for the windbreaker yet! Pretty windy so I kept it nice and easy and didn't push at all. I ended up about two minutes slower than Tuesday's run, but it felt right for the day. The current schedule I'm on is all about getting in the easy miles with a key stress workout or race on the weekend, so now easy run heroics! I'm tentatively planning on a 20 minute tempo in spikes on the grass perimeter loop at Lakewood Park Saturday. This will get me into an XC frame of mind without trashing me. I'm learning that I don't need to kill myself in workouts to stay fit. Right now I'm think of racing one more time before Club Nationals, most likely a 5K on the fast Lakewood Park neighborhood course on Dec. 4. It will be a good reference point for me too as I ran 17:32 there at the beginning of October.