man low-7's is a *run* for me. lot of work to do to catch up to where you're at.
hah. ya. you're taking the gradual approach, which is what I did initially as well. I think it's working good. Easing into it is important. The key, just like anything else, is consistency.
also remember, my 2nd best 5k was the first week I got my garmin watch, that was like 2 years ago. I should be able to crush that now but, just interesting.
I'm naturally better at running "slow/moderate" for a long time, I think. I mean now i'm realizing that all I have to do is be able to hit like, 6:00 for 26.2 and I could possibly win the Miami Marathon, wtf? That's now on my road map

One thing I know i'm "gifted at", is doing something simple for a very long time. That's also a reason you historically told me to do ultra's etc, which i'm not sure if you noticed in a previous post, i'll be doing one next year

That 6 hour race.
so ya, time to integrate all of the components: speed, distance etc.
i'm avoiding joining strava because i spend enough time on social media as it is, so i'm just chasing your training instead.

totally understand that. strava is really great though. IMHO, i'd join. Even if it's just following me/Joe/Coges etc. Joe/I post more workouts, Coges will eventually

it's much less of a time waster .. I rarely check it. People aren't chatting on there much etc, just workouts being synced automatically, a few "kudos" (thumbs up), and an occasional comment etc.
That's my favorite running site by far. I follow like ~50 people or so, and it doesn't distract me/take up much time at all.
my 2 cents

plus there's an adarq.org run squad (group), with no photo for the avatar!!