This morning we ran about 9 and a half miles on the Burke Gilman trail. The first leg was a little over 4.5 miles. I'm finding the first two and half miles to be the hardest (well, not as hard as the last two....) and I discovered, I do not run negative splits. If the second half of your run is slower, is that really a positive split?
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Pre-run: I know I may be eating my words later, but 13 miles doesn't seem like so far anymore. It just kind of clicked this week. I know I haven't actually run 9 miles yet, and it's very likely I'll be singing a different tune in two hours... but the distance doesn't seem to daunting anymore...
Mile 1-2: Suck, as per usual. I'm kind of getting use to just hunkering down for the first couple miles knowing that it gets better (and dare I say, easier?) later.
Mile 3: This is more like it. Today was totally an ideal running day. It was sunny, 60-ish degrees, breezy... perfect. And at mile 3 I could really just enjoy taking advantage of such awesome weather.
Mile 4: My friend, Chris, and I are nearing the turn-around point, but it's strange that we haven't seen the faster girls on their way back, yet.
Turn-around: I'm teeming with energy, I can even sprint for a little bit, but luckily Jonna is there to remind me to save it for the end. Chris and I stop and stretch for about a minute or two. I look at my HRM and it says 48 minutes and some change! That's pretty fast, and it wasn't too difficult!
We both take some shot blocks, and I realize I'm really thirsty. I usually don't drink much when I run because I get pretty aggressive cramps. It was probably the heat. But, off we go!
Mile 5: Still feeling great. We're facing the sun on our way back and it feels warmer. I find myself resisting surges of energy I keep feeling.
Mile 6: OK, slowing down. I can definitely tell that we weren't going very fast. I find comforting in realizing we're 2/3 of the way there, and we "only have three miles to go" hahaha... It's bizarre how 3 miles seemed easy...
On the way to mile 7 we passed the "wall of death" (left). I had pointed it out on our way out, knowing that the next time I see it, I'll be in the home stretch. I love running on the Burke Gilman because it's scenic and there are tons of landmarks. I think it makes running back go by more quickly. And it gives me a sense of distance. I know the "Wall of Death is around 2 miles from our starting point and one mile-ish from gasworks.
Mile 7: Definitely bummed that I haven't gotten a single red light or reason to stop for a second. We decide to stop and walk for 20 seconds just to get some energy back for the last mile or so. Now that it's later in the morning there are a couple of walkers out on the trail, and I use some of my reserved energy to pull ahead.
Anytime I'm running and I'm gaining on a walker I feel this need to really prove to myself that I am running faster than they are walking. Even if I sprint by them, then drop back to a slower pace, it makes me feel better.
Mile 8: Only 1 mile to go! Or around 12 or so minutes. I know I can do this. I pull ahead from Chris for a while, but not by much. I really want to run fast, but my body won't listen. Well, I guess it fights back... I could feel a small cramp coming on from pushing to hard, but I finally got a red light so I stopped and Chris caught up to me. We're less than a quarter mile from finished!
DONE! We pull up just as some of the faster girls have finished stretching and are taking off. It took us 56 minutes to run the second half. Which, is not terrible... but definitely isn't a negative split.
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In crazy news, I ran 9.5 miles this morning and my knee is fine! Not painful at all! I'm sore everywhere else and my legs are so stiff I feel like I'm walking on stilts, but I guess my plan for knee recovery worked!
This week I'd like to have a biggest loser week. I want to lose 6 pounds. I'm going to do this by working out in the morning this week. I plan to get all of my "required" workouts done in the morning before work, then if I do any supplemental workouts they will just be a bonus.
I also think I'm going to try to get my runs in earlier this week. Like on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last few Saturdays I had been pretty tired, and this morning I felt totally rested and ready to rock!
Next week we're running almost 11 miles... Let's see if I can learn from all this experience :)
1 comment:
I have to tell you, as your boyfriend, I'm starting to feel a little inadequate.
Keep it up baby you're doing awesome!
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