Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hitting my stride

So I think I've finally learned to enjoy my runs. My last post had been about my horrible running week. Well, that Saturday, I ended up getting 3 miles in after all. Additionally, for the first time, I ran in the humid, hot environment of central New York. It also helped that I was visiting my boyfriend's family so it was a new place to run. Did I mention that I had my boyfriend and his dog tag along? It turned out, this run was just what i needed. Because of the dog, for the first mile, I had to stop a few times along the way so that he could cool off in the nearby stream. I also ran it at a relaxed pace of 9:15min/miles. In addition, I figured out how to use the auto lap function on my garmin, so i even had mile splits. And this was after owning the watch for 2 years!

After the encouraging run of the Saturday, I headed out again on Sunday to get in my long run for the week of 5 miles. Even though I was heading out by myself, the dog insisted on coming along, so I took him for the first mile. Then I had to stop by the house and trick him into not following me for the rest of the miles. It's an Aussie with a lot of black fur. I didn't want to be responsible for killing a dog from heat exhaustion. Because his dad has a farm, the dog wasn't on a leash, which I prefer. I'd rather not have to concern myself with wrestling with the dog to stop it from getting distracted when I'm trying not to pass out from exhaustion. The rest of the five miles went smoothly.

Monday, I was able to go on an easy 4 miler. By Monday, I was back at school and ready to conquer the hills that I've been avoiding for the last week. Intentionally keeping the pace above 9 min/miles helped me to enjoy my run.

Tuesday was a first for me. The schedule called for cross training and for the first time in my life, I cross trained for training. I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep myself focused on a stationary bike, I went to an hour long spinning class. For some odd reason, all the school stationary bikes didn't have a rpm tracker or mile tracker. Since I am an enginerd, numbers mean a lot to me. Music and the instructor wasn't enough to make the workout enjoyable. I had no way of knowing my exact resistance, distance, or rpm. There was nothing to shoot for.

This brings us to today. I had originally set my alarm for 5AM for an early morning intervals, but sounds of rain and thunder made it easier for me to make excuses and sleep in. I tried to run the intervals on the treadmill, which wasn't ideal. The plan called for 15 min warm up, 2 mile repeats with 2 min rest in between, and another 15 min cool down. I changed it to  one mile warm up and cool down, 2  mile repeats with 0.25mile rest in between. Unfortunately, I couldn't complete the interval even with Bones playing on the TV in front of me. I hit the speeds I wanted for the warm up and the repeats, but I ended up not finishing the cool down for a total of 3.5 miles. warm up- 9:12  mile repeats - 8:27. Maybe I should strive for a slower warm up and cool down and maybe slower intervals?

Two nights before weekend!

1 comment:

  1. I almost stopped reading after the first sentence, because what an amazing first sentence!!!!!!

    And then, your first cross training too??

    Sounds like a great week!

    <3

    ReplyDelete