Shorter but faster Night Run

I just finished a 5.023km running that lasted about 0hh:22mm:54ss !

It's only Thursday, but so far this week I'm still keeping the running plan I had in mind. After a rest day on Tuesday, I wanted to try a shorter but significantly faster run on Wednesday. The goal was somewhere between 3 and 4 miles, and an overall pace under 7:30min/mile. Once again I didn't manage to start my run before nightfall and the cover photo was snapped a couple hours before while walking the dog and enjoying the sunset colors.

As you might remember, warm-up, cool-down and post-run stretching, are things that I know are critical, but simply never do. However, this time, since I wanted to go faster, including right at the start, I figured I'd try a short warm-up. I selected one from the Recover app that comes free with Strava subscription (BTW, I will have to check that app more, it may be the small push for me to finally start doing these things I just mentioned). Nothing fancy, just a few strength and slow dynamic moves to get the legs going.

As for the run itself, maybe because of the eagerness to be faster than usual, I started way too fast for my current form. I really thought I wouldn't be able to maintain the pace, even for the short distance intended. And indeed the pace is not so consistent, and again it felt like much harder work than it should have been. But I'm glad with the final overall pace at 7:20 min/mile. As a reference, my soft target for the half marathon next week is 8 min/mile.

Now, let's see if I can keep that plan going Thursday with a medium run, around 8 miles under 8 min/mile would be ideal. And a short/slow run on Friday to recover.

Totals for October: