Recovery 6 miler

This morning, I had no running partner. Some things I was planning fell through. That was okay, because running alone I was able to focus on things that I never think about when running. I spent some time focusing on breathing today. I was particularly aware of using my belly for breathing instead of my chest. Also, I was able to focus on breathing rhythm. I don't know if there's any value to either of those, but I was able to focus on them during today's run.

An interesting thing is that my heart rate stayed very low for the pace I was running. It was a recovery run, so I wanted to keep my HR below 140. While running an 8:30 pace, my HR was staying around 135-138. I usually have to run near 9:00 to keep my HR that low.

I don't know what the difference was. Was it the breathing? Is my aerobic conditioning improving? Do I just feel good today? I don't know. Anyway, an awesome, if lonely, 6 miler with 6 100 meter strides at the end of the run.