It was another long run night. I kept looking at this day in the training schedule and going.. yeah, right.
But I strapped on my gear and set out... determined. I had a game plan, do my five minute warm=up and then split the 60 minute --- yes 60 MINUTE -- into 10 minute intervals. At the end of every 10 minutes I would walk long enough to have some liquid and then move back into a run.
There was a part of my brain that was laughing at my optimism but I figured if I didn't go out there expecting to run the whole time, I wouldn't.
Well - everything went as planned. My watch would go off every 10 minutes - I would walk long enough to take in a good bunch of water (usually 10 to 20 seconds) and then I would start running again. About a third into the run I KNEW I would do the whole thing, the only question was, how far could I make it in that time. So I set a goal -- probably my first one ever. I wanted to make it 4 miles. Knowing that I had run 2 miles in just over 30 minutes in the past I figured I would be pushing it, but isn't that what the training is about this stage in the game? Pushing it? So I ran, and I ran and I ran... and the timer stopped and the run was over and my watch said... 4.49 miles! (including 5 minute warm-up and cool-down) when I got home and could look at my stats and pull out my warm-up and cool-down the news was still GREAT -- 4.07 miles in 60 minutes -- whoop! Tomorrows a VERY early morning Bike-Run-Bike, so it's off to bed with me now! :)
Woo Hoo! Congrats! I can relate to that feeling.
ReplyDeleteThe run/walk strategy is very effective. I've got a friend I run with that can do the whole run/walk (drink/eat) thing and keep the overall pace equal to mine. I also used to do it as well (but stopped only cause mentally I decided I didn't want to run again after i started walking). ;)
ReplyDeleteCongrats!