Pace, pace, pace. Runners are obsessed with pace. And this runner has been especially obsessed with pace lately because I spent so long being sick and struggling and watching my pace get slower and slower. Now that I'm better, it's exciting to be keeping tabs on my pace again.

In general (and over time), pace is a good indicator of our improvements as runners. But it's not the only indicator and it's also really easy to get wrapped up in pace and forget other ways we've improved.  And sometimes, a pace that feels slow one day is fast the next (or vice versa). 

And this week was one of those weeks. One day I was tearing it up at a 7:45ish pace and it felt easy, but another day, that was about as fast I could reasonably muster even though I was hoping to be more in the 7:15 range that day.

Workout recap

Last week's workouts

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday:  Easy run - 5.01 miles @ 8:48 pace 
• Wednesday:
  • Easy run - 3.08 miles @ 8:34 pace (splits: 9:53 (talking on the phone and awkwardly running while holding the phone to my ear), 8:17, 7:43) 
  • Barre class
• Thursday: Family bike ride - 5.5 miles 
• Friday: Speedwork - 6.01 miles, 4 easy, last 2 faster (7:42, 7:45), overall pace 8:37
• Saturday: Easy run - 3.01 miles @ 8:48 pace 
• Sunday: Long run - 8.01 miles super easy @ 9:20 pace

The first day when I felt great at 7:45, I was well rested, but the day my speedwork rolled around and I really wanted to be able to push harder, I was tired from a toddler who didn't want to sleep the night before and I wasn't feeling great (cramps, headache - that kind of fun stuff). A bit disappointing since the weather was gorgeous this week with cooler temps and low humidity, and that's probably the last we'll see of that until November. But I did what I could. And it was good enough.

On the shorter runs, I trust my pace a bit better right now and am able to go at a pretty decent clip without issue, and I'm surprising myself with how easy the faster pace feels.

On the long runs? Not so much. It's been such a long time since I've run long and at any semblance of speed that I approach my long runs (even though "long" this week was only 8 miles) with extreme caution. I go out much slower than I think I should and hope I can hold on. This week I did just that on my long run and ended up with an overall back half that was faster than the first half, at about 30 seconds faster per mile. Success!

Right now those long runs are about getting in the distance. I'm not working on speed at all with those, so the slower the better. Eventually my pace there will pick back up as my endurance increases.

But overall, I'd say my week in running was pretty good, even if I didn't hit some of the paces I wanted to hit. And my pace (other than my long run) was still faster overall than I've been in a long time. And that's improvement. 

Another area of improvement for me? After several months of barely running and only doing very easy workouts (and less of them), I started to feel really squishy and my clothes weren't fitting quite right. But after about a month back of running harder, I'm way less squishy already and I wore a pair of jeans last night that were too tight a few weeks ago. YAY! 

I missed my goal of two barre classes because B was home sick on Thursday and that meant I had to push my speedwork day to Friday, and Friday was when I was planning that second barre class. Instead of running, we went on a family bike ride on Thursday so B could relax in the trailer. Life happens. I'll try again this week.

Right now, I'm just pleased that 3 out of the past 4 weeks I've run at least 5 times (and one week I ran 6 times). So, whatever the pace may be, I'm doing just fine.

And before you go, here are some posts from the week that you may have missed from last week:

Mother's Day gift list
My 5 year runiversary

How was your week?

I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippi Piddlin'  for their Weekly Wrap post, as well as Eat, Pray, Run DC for her weekly training recap.