Good end to good week

Today I ran in the hottest of conditions -- 88 degrees and very humid at 4 p.m. But it was a good run. I approached it with the idea that I would go slow, whatever it took to run 35 minutes. And that worked pretty well.

Down at the track, I ran two loops repeatedly -- one lap of the track and one loop around one practice field, then one lap of the track and one loop around the other practice field. That way I mixed some grass and more firm surface (the track). I did this for 33 minutes -- or about 3.6 miles. What I liked is how steady I ran. I timed a lap in lane 1, and it was 2:14 -- 8:56 pace.

Then I ran 4 x 100 -meter strides in about 21 seconds each. It was a good way to end.

I would like to keep my figuring simple about running my 5:30 mile goal. If I average 21 seconds per 100, I hit 5:36. If I average 20 seconds, it will be 5:20. That's 80 seconds a lap. So eventually, I will have to get my repeats that fast and occassionally a little faster.

But just like with learning, sometimes you need some scaffolding. So I start with 100 second lap pace, then inch down to 90, and finally 80.

I like my goal of 5:30. I heard somebody once say that a good goal is to run 1 minute slower than your fastest mile ever. So that would be just about right.

One thing I will have to do to get there is lose weight. I will keep that simple, too. 1 pound a week, so that by the time I run the Muscatine race, I will weigh 178. And by the time I run the Run for the Schools, I will be about 170. I can do this.

Miles for week -- 13

Miles on shoes -- 22.3

Sunday weigh-in after run -- 186