It's interesting to compare my recent running endeavors to when I first resumed running in the fall of 2007. I've been back (again) just over 3 months now and am still struggling to get my speed up and I'm trying to determine the reason.

When I started back in September, I was doing a couple miles at a 10+ minute pace. By the end of the month, however, I was doing a pretty difficult 4.3 mile run at a 9:03 pace. And by the end of October, that same 4.3 mile run was down to an 8:15 pace.

Looking at my more recent runs, my pace has come down more slowly. In May I again averaged a 10+ minute pace, which is fine, but it's taken 3 months to get things down to 9 minutes.

I'm not really sure what the difference is between now and 9 months ago, well, besides the whole diabetes thing! I think I need to come up with a training plan, instead of just going out and running however long and fast I feel like running. Yesterday I did a short (3.5 mile) run with some speedwork mixed in. It felt pretty good although my speedwork pace definitely did not feel sustainable (I could only really keep it up for about 1/2 mile or so).

Hopefully if I actually TRY to run fast instead of just trying to run, my pace will come down somewhat, which would be nice because I've got the Ivyland 5k coming up this weekend and the Nike+ Human Race at the end of the month.