I think I over-recovered...it took a real effort of will to get myself back out there on the pavement tonight, and when I started running I couldn't seem to get into a rhythm. It almost felt like I was starting to run again for the very first time.
Our super-hot weather is over for now, so it's just a normal level of August heat...which meant that when I stepped out of the door at 7 p.m. tonight, there was actually a little bit of a chill in the air. It felt weird - I started running seriously during the last week of July, when a cooler day was 89. I'll have to get used to not starting to sweat till the end of my first 1/2 mile (since I tend to see the sweat as proof of adequate effort, meaning if I'm not sweating I think I'm not working hard enough).
Despite the strangeness, though, the training run went fairly well. I'm still a little frustrated by my need to take walking breaks, though I know that both John Bingham and Jeff Galloway (www.jeffgalloway.com) espouse them as a way to train and even race. I guess I still want to be the Bionic Woman (and then maybe I could figure out how not to need sleep, and maybe my house would be clean and my laundry would be done, too). Even with walking breaks, though, I ran my planned 1.5 miles in 19:02. Not quite my adrenaline-rush race pace, but close enough for me to feel that the number on the clock last Saturday wasn't a mistake, and also a good pace to push myself far enough to build both speed and endurance. Certainly it's a lot faster than my old training pace of 14-15 minute miles. My left shin and right knee are a little sore...the right knee was noticeably tight when I first started, but hopefully that's just a result of not moving (I didn't even get out and walk!) for 4 days.
I'm fairly sure now of when my next race will be, and it was the thought of that race (in 4 1/2 weeks...one of these days I'll give myself adequate 8-12 week preparation time) that helped get me out the door tonight. It's the Taking Steps Against Domestic Violence 5K Run/3K Awareness Walk (www.artemiscenter.org/news.htm) in downtown Dayton. I think I need to pretty much keep setting continuous goals for myself running-wise, in other words I always need to know when the next race I'm entering is...otherwise I'll sneak in too much pizza, or too little sleep, or too many days off, and undo all the progress I've made.
In other words...I think I'm becoming a run-a-holic. =)
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2 comments:
Ashley, I have the same mind set as you, if I don't have a goal race I think I may undo everything I have done. This is my first year running outside mainly use the treadmill and my first time leaving my neighborhood and getting on the main road although I do it at 6am on Saturday before too many cars and there is a bike path. I have to have goals, it will be something to work towards, most of my races are just to finish and for fun. Good job on getting out the door today.
I'm with you on the races as motivation as well. Since I started running 3 years ago, I've always had a next race, usually a next several races. :)
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