The mountain trails beckon.

Not where I went. Where I want to be.

Yesterday's long run was 8 miles. It felt good, good enough to let me know my recovery phase is coming to an end and it'll be time to begin getting out for some miles again.

Earlier in the week I had some doubts, when my left hip began giving me hell. I'd done a fairly aggressive 3-mi run earlier in the week, but not enough to justify the kind of discomfort I was feeling. I figured I'd better take it easy, not risk injury, so held back on my Thursday 4-mi run.

Then I discovered what the hip flareup was about. Not running. I've recently installed rock sliders on my Toyota Tacoma, and getting in and out the door has turned into a bit of a gymnastics move. That's what threw the hip into spasms.

Once I discovered that to be the culprit, I decided running was exactly what I needed. So I was out early Saturday morning on the South Boulder Creek Trail, at East Boulder Rec Center.

Coach has given some new paces, based on my pace at the Colorado Half Marathon.

Long run.....11:30 - 12:30 min
Easy run.....11:00 - 11:30 min
Tempo run...9:30 min
1 mi...........9:00 min
1/2 mi........8:30 min
1/4 mi........8:00 min

These times shave a bit off the 1/2 mi and the 1/4 mi paces, and stipulate Long, Easy and Tempo paces more precisely.

Prescribed run today was 8 mi at long-run pace. Very challenging for me to hold back my pace, constantly having to readjust, hold back, trim the sails. Average for the 8 mi turned out to be 11:00 min. Felt quite good, no doubt easier because I hadn't done the prescribed 4 mi on Thursday.

Further:

Your job this week is to find a hill, not quite as steep as running up the entrance to Folsom Field, and measure out 100 meters on it. You will use it a lot.

A bigger job for the next few weeks is to decide if I am going to improve my time on the half marathon or prepare for a full marathon. Then find my next race.

Right now I'm leaning heavily in the direction of extending my distances to the full marathon. Much as I'd like to see a half come in under 2:00 hrs, I really love running in the quiet, remote trails in my mountain neighborhood and would love to be able to extend that distance.