I ran an easy 6+ Monday night in 52 minutes. I attempted to calibrate my Nike+ iPod attachment but when I arrived at the Chestnut Hill Academy track a very friendly security guard who was closing things up kicked me off. The track is only open sun up to sun down due to a lack of lights. I’ll either have to go earlier when it is open or go later when the guard is gone and I can hop the small fence.

In the morning I hate that running forces me out of bed before 6:00 but at 6:30 with the sun coming up and 4 miles under my belt I am always happy I got up. It was a beautiful sunrise this morning and at 6:30 I was just beginning the tempo portion of my workout. My goal was to run tempo for 35 minutes and then figure out the distance when I got home.

After a 20 minute warm up I hit the gas at Springfield and Pocono Street, I followed my normal CH loop down to Valley Green Ave and then up Springfield Street to Germantown. 20 minutes done and I felt like I was putting in a good workout although I knew things weren’t moving along as quickly as I wanted. I was hoping for sub 6:20 pace and I didn’t think I was there. I don’t know if it was because of the early morning, or tired legs (this really isn’t an excuse as my legs felt great in the warm up) but I couldn’t get things going like I’d hoped.
I finished the 35 minutes at Chestnut Hill Ave and Navajo St and took the final portion home at a very easy pace. When I mapped things out I had covered 5.5 miles in 35:09, which translates into 6:27 pace. Not great but it is a rolling loop and for me 35 minutes is a fairly long tempo workout. I’ll keep to the same time in the future and see if I can push the distance further. All in all I was happy with the workout. 9.9 miles in 71 minutes.