Tuesday, December 4, 2012

79 Days Left

Pinned Image
 
One of my very fit and active friends told me that she thinks I am becoming addicted to running.  I don't think so. People who are addicted to running love it.  I don't love it.  It's just becoming what I do.  I think that the quote pretty much sums it up.  Training is homework.  My brain is wired to follow a plan.  If running is "assigned", then I am going to do it.  The calendar said that I need to run today, so I ran. 
 
It a beautiful day in Virginia.  It's sunny and breezy and 70 degrees.....in DECEMBER!  It's a beautiful day for a run!  After a pretty busy morning, the baby stayed home with Daddy while I went for my run before the big boys came home on the bus.
 
I stayed in the neighborhood because I needed to be close to home to catch the bus when it came to drop off the boys.  Since I wasn't running far from home, I decided to play with my intervals.  After the race on Saturday, I knew that I could probably run my short run (2.58 miles) without stopping.  But, I believe in training how you race, so I stuck with the intervals instead of trying to just run.  I set the watch for a 2:45 running interval and a 1:00 walking interval.  I didn't run hard during the running intervals.  I took it pretty easy, but I was able to run longer, which was pretty exciting.
 
The run felt pretty good.  I got tired, but at the same time, I felt like i could have kept going if I had needed to.  I noticed some things on my run today: 
1.   I am almost to a 3:1 interval.  I started this adventure with 2:1 intervals, which I dropped down to 90 seconds:1 minute intervals because 2:1 was too much.  I have added 45 seconds to my running intervals.  Not only that, I can keep it up for lots of miles. 
2.  I don't look at my watch very often.  Don't get me wrong, there are some runs where I am lucky that I don't slam into a mailbox because I am looking at it so much.  But, overall, I just run.  When the watch beeps, I walk.  When it beeps again, I run.  I don't curse it (very often) or will it to beep.
3.  I am getting faster.  Way back in July, when I registered, my time was usually a high 13/low 14 minute mile.  Now I am consistently around 12 minutes. 
4.  I don't watch my feet anymore.  Way back when, I ran looking down.  I don't know if I was trying to make sure that I didn't trip or if I was watching my feet to make sure they were still moving forward.  Either way, now my head is up. 
 
And something I noticed when I got home from my run:
1.  The bids need to hurry on up and fly south.  Apparently, I got bombed by a bird.  I didn't feel it or see it, but there is definitely bird poop on my right sleeve.   Not cool birds, not cool. 
 
Today's Stats:
3.44 miles in 42.20 (Actual watch time - 43:50.  I have no shame is subtracting 1:30 off of that time.  I had to stop and wait for the bus to come into the neighborhood, turn around, open the door, and let the boys off.  I started walking them home and the watch beeped to start running again.  I figured they knew the way and started running.  Don't worry, I had to go around the court, so I could see them as they were walking home.)
12.2 minute mile
 
And just in case the Mayans are reading this blog, they had better be wrong.
 
Pinned Image
Well, a Half Marathon (or two...maybe 3), but the idea is the same.

No comments:

Post a Comment