I need to relax and not think about this pace run so much. I couldn't sleep last night tossed and turned. Finally I decided to get out of bed do some stretching and core work at midnight. Silly right? Eventually I finally found my sleep. I was supposed to wake up at 6 and planned to be out the door by 7am. Didn't happen. I woke up at 7:06, took my resting HR and it was at 55. A good sign. I was ready to tackle this run today. As soon as I confirmed with Hubs if I need to be back at a certain time. Rats! I did. My HR went up 4 beats faster! I thought that was pretty funny how my HR reacted to a minor stress. Anyway, I needed to be back home before 9 so that he can go to his soccer clinic today. Did I mention that before? Yes I will be helping the Hubs, who's going to be coaching the 12 and under girls team this season. His first coaching gig. We're all excited. Mainly I will help out with the girls warm-ups. So anyway, he was crimping my style and I was all right with that. That just meant, no time for a shower, no time for coffee (argh!) and no time for toast with PB and my plain oatmeal. I shoved an orange down as fast as I could for a mere 100 calories. I was hoping that would keep me from bonking. It did, but the energy was low.
I got out and after a 1/2 mile of slow run, I found my usual spot to do some more light stretching for the hammies, the glutes, the hip flexors, calves. And I was off.
One thing worth mentioning, is that hitting a faster pace first thing in the morning is a lot harder to do than if I were to wait later during the day. Muscles are still cold, you just roused up from an 8 hours (hopefully) of sleep and to bring a cold engine to rev at top speed is not as efficient and takes more effort. If I do the pace runs or speed later in the day, when I've already walked up and down the stairs, had my coffee, hydrated well enough and fueled enough, the results are more positive. It's a known fact that more world records and personal bests are broken in the late afternoons than mornings. My 4:12:25 PR in NY came knocking around 2:50 p.m! I'll remember this for my next time trial.
The first half of my run today was at 9:38 min/mile. I was 29 seconds slower. I gave myself the 2 miles to warm the body up before hitting the supposed 9:09. At mile 2.5, I hit my first hill. I glanced at my split and it was a disappointing 10:24 pace. I thought I was in trouble. Darn it. I just said forget the splits just run. After the second hill, I thought maybe I can push it since the flats are all that's left. The hills are in the bag just look forward. When I hit mile 5 with 2 miles left to go, my pace was 9:35min/mile. I was dubious, how the heck can I bring the average down to 9:09? Do I have enough real estate to catch it up? Freak, Freak Freak! That's the PG version of what I really said.
So I pushed and pushed. I didn't red-line which was good because it meant that I was managing the speed in a controlled manner. My pace for the 6th mile was 8:22 min/mile and the 7th mile was 8:06min/mile. My last half mile was 7:38 min/mile. My pace for the second half of the course was 8:50 min/mile. That meant that I ran negative splits. Even though I missed the pace of 9:09, I should be pleased that I shaved off 48 seconds per mile in my second half. I would love to replicate this in a real race. Also, those elite runners who break world records, if you analyze their miles splits, you'll find that more often than not, they run negative splits. Not that I am trying to break any world record here, just striving to get better.
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| MDO here I come...maybe... |
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| Trail run tomorow perhaps? |
Happy Running!
Don't be disappointed. That's a fantastic workout!!!!
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