Saturday, October 4, 2008

I LOVE TO RUN!!

Was it the fact that I took a complete rest day yesterday? Or maybe the excitement of having my Garmin back after a week without it? Or the Hawaiian delite pizza from Papa Murphys I ate last night? I don't know... but today's run ROCKED!!! I had scheduled 6 miles at MRP. Normally I warm up about 2 miles and then pick up the pace, leaving at least a 1/2-1 mile to cool down at the end. Today, I drove to the gym (planning to do my core program after my run) and it was still dark when I took off running-- which I love. I ran the first mile comfortably but felt pretty ready to pick up the pace. So when my Garmin beeped the first mile... I picked it up. I couldn't see what my splits were cause it was dark, but every once in a while I'd go under a street light and try to get a glimpse of my pace. Eventually the sun came up and I could see what I was doing. When I hit 5 miles, I slowed briefly preparing to cool down and realizing that I was actually 1.5 miles from the gym... I immediately picked it back up. I was feeling good! I decided to finish out the last mile at pace and then just walk it back to the gym. My last 2 miles were a little bit too fast... I have a tendency to pick it up when stimulated and in my last couple of miles I was on the canal and there were 3 people with dogs off leash which stresses me out-- making me run faster.

So my final splits looked like this:
W/U 1 mile- 9 min pack
Mile 2-3 8:10 pace
Mile 4 8:00 pace
Mile 5-6 7:50 pace

My target pace is 8-8:15. I was pretty happy with my results especially considering my first two miles I had no idea what pace I was keeping. Not bad! After my run I headed upstairs to strength train. Forgot to drink the Ensure I packed in my cooler... I totally crashed after about 30 minutes into my workout. I was fatigued and hungry! Made it through. Feel strong. Found out that Saturday mornings are a good time to go to the gym cause it's pretty empty. Can't wait to run again tomorrow!! I am so psyched for PF Chang's... I WILL QUALIFY!! (or die trying!)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You'll qualify girl!! Great job on your training. I could never be that disciplined. I train at one pace and then run like hell on race morning. haha... 3:33 baby!! I am visualizing 3:45:58, don't need that extra second. ;)

Janine said...

I have absolutely no doubt that you will do it!