Happy New Year
The day where everything is new again.
Same old cold, same old wind, however.
Despite the temptation to use the cold as an excuse, I went ahead with my planned workout - the 3.5 mile tempo run along MLK plus the warmup/cooldown of getting there and back. I had last run this on November 25 and had some other tempo runs that led me to think I was ready to graduate to the BN loop, but given the last few weeks of irregular running I thought I better go with SMB for one more time.
I had to alter this route due to the South Street Bridge closure, which ended up cutting a half mile off of it. I also relaxed my expectations for the tempo run, given the conditions.
Going into the tempo run I just didn't feel that I had it. The wind wasn't so bad and if anything I was overdressed against the cold. The first half mile split came in at 3:15, which was slower than the pace I thought I was capable of. But I felt like I did at Boston last spring, I was going slower than I wanted to but I still didn't see me holding this pace for the entire 3.5 miles. So I made it bite-sized, saying that I'd go a half-mile at a time and re-evaluate. At the one-mile mark I saw to my pleasant surprise that I was able to maintain pace and from there I gathered momentum, with each mile getting faster and the 3.5 mile stretch coming in at 22:04 - a 6:18 pace and faster than what I ran it a month ago.
I came away from that philosophical. It was a workout against myself, and I was proud that I resolved to hang in there and ended up exceeding my expectations of what I was capable of. On the other hand, ideally I was capable of doing this faster. Ultimately, the former won out and I feel good about the workout.
I was overheated to the point where, after the tempo part, I pulled off my hoodie, gloves and hat and just ran in shorts and threadbare G5K shirt. Ran that way for about 3 miles, it felt great, as I was warm and could bask in the sun's weak rays. I imagined a force field around me to keep out the cold.
A good run to start off the new year. 11 miles in 88:10.
Same old cold, same old wind, however.
Despite the temptation to use the cold as an excuse, I went ahead with my planned workout - the 3.5 mile tempo run along MLK plus the warmup/cooldown of getting there and back. I had last run this on November 25 and had some other tempo runs that led me to think I was ready to graduate to the BN loop, but given the last few weeks of irregular running I thought I better go with SMB for one more time.
I had to alter this route due to the South Street Bridge closure, which ended up cutting a half mile off of it. I also relaxed my expectations for the tempo run, given the conditions.
Going into the tempo run I just didn't feel that I had it. The wind wasn't so bad and if anything I was overdressed against the cold. The first half mile split came in at 3:15, which was slower than the pace I thought I was capable of. But I felt like I did at Boston last spring, I was going slower than I wanted to but I still didn't see me holding this pace for the entire 3.5 miles. So I made it bite-sized, saying that I'd go a half-mile at a time and re-evaluate. At the one-mile mark I saw to my pleasant surprise that I was able to maintain pace and from there I gathered momentum, with each mile getting faster and the 3.5 mile stretch coming in at 22:04 - a 6:18 pace and faster than what I ran it a month ago.
I came away from that philosophical. It was a workout against myself, and I was proud that I resolved to hang in there and ended up exceeding my expectations of what I was capable of. On the other hand, ideally I was capable of doing this faster. Ultimately, the former won out and I feel good about the workout.
I was overheated to the point where, after the tempo part, I pulled off my hoodie, gloves and hat and just ran in shorts and threadbare G5K shirt. Ran that way for about 3 miles, it felt great, as I was warm and could bask in the sun's weak rays. I imagined a force field around me to keep out the cold.
A good run to start off the new year. 11 miles in 88:10.
posted by seebo | 3:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home