Sunday - 6.26 miles - the awful 10k
Monday - rest day, hating running
Tuesday - I turned to my trusty treadmill. Whenever I am in a running funk, I don't trust myself to go outside. I feel like I give up easier outside. I did have to take some walk breaks on the 'mill, but got in 4.45 miles in 50 minutes
Wednesday - treadmill again. Feeling better. 5.11 miles in 50 minutes
Thursday - coaxed outside for a slow run with a work running buddy. So glad I did! Didn't look at my watch except for mileage, and did a nice easy 5 miles in 47 minutes.
Friday - rest day. Walked to my son's elementary school and back for my volunteer time, rather than driving. 1.08 miles
Saturday -
I wanted to get a longish, but no pressure run in Saturday. I needed to know that I had it in me. Saturday morning, early, was the only time in our busy weekend that I had time to get it done.
My alarm went off and I didn't want to get moving. I finally forced myself out the door a little before 7:30. I didn't have a plan. Initially I wanted 10 miles, but as I got a little later start, I decided to just run for 90 minutes. I ran a loop around the library, then headed west. It was perfect weather, cool, a little windy but not bad. I also was trying out my hydration belt for the first time. I bought the Nathan hydration belt with two 10 oz bottles. It was a little annoying at first, but after a mile or so, I didn't notice it.
I ran down some streets of a neighborhood with some gorgeous houses on it, just taking my time and looking at the houses. I headed up to my turn around point, and close to mile 5, I decided to head west into Green Meadows neighborhood. The streets are uphill for a ways, and this is the point in the Drake Half where you have some hills. I climbed the neighborhood for a bit, then started to head for home.
There is almost a 2 mile straight road leading back to my house. I had been taking the whole run super easy, not looking at my pace. For this competitive, pace obsessed girl, I was surprised at how easy it was, not paying attention to my watch.
On the straight stretch home, the song "Dynamite" came across my Shuffle. My 7 yr old loves this song! It made me think of him, and what a hard little worker he is, and it motivated me. For the rest of the straight road, I picked up my pace during every chorus of the songs playing on my iPod. I don't know by how much I picked up the pace, I just did. I ran past my street to complete 90 minutes of running, then turned around and really picked it up for the 0.3 miles back to my street. I did look at my watch at this point and was going about 8 min pace or faster. It felt good to throw in that speed at the end of a long run.
Overall, I did 9.71 miles at an avg pace of 9:32. And I didn't hurt! My calves were a little tight, but overall, I felt great. It was so nice to just run with no pressure and really enjoy the time to myself, and the feeling of accomplishing the distance, without the pressure to "nail" the run.
Today I am going to get my tempo run out of the way, but I am going to do it on my treadmill. That way I can set the speed and just go on autopilot. I think I am even going to run it at race pace (vs faster, which is what I have been doing). The run calls for 5 miles @ tempo of 8:36, with a mile warm up and a mile cool down. I think I will run the 5 miles @ 8:27, with some faster miles at the end, if I am feeling good. I've been spending my speed runs trying to outdo to the training plan, that I have no idea how easy or hard race pace is. Tempo runs having been really hard workouts because I have been pushing the speed as high as my body can go. Which has backfired a bit, in that it has reduced my confidence rather than built it up. Hoping that by dialing the pace back a bit, I will get my confidence and energy for this race back.
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