Thursday I ran 5 miles in the morning. I got out when it was still dark out, and that was fun because I’ve just been running on the treadmill lately so I also got to sleep in a bit. Then, get ready for work in just 20 mins. Yep, that included washing my hair! It was a “curly wash and go” hairstyle day 🙂 The other nice thing about running in the dark is that it’s a little harder to see the pace on my watch, so I like to just run by feel instead of obsessing about the pace! Most times I’m actually happily surprised by my pace outside.
I also tried out my new Glass City Marathon race Ambassador shirt. I’ll be wearing it a few races besides the GCM, so a test run was necessary. It worked out well! Not to mention I don’t have any other shirts that are gold, so hopefully I will be easy to spot in a sea of runners.
Friday was my long run. 10 miles! I decided I would just run for awhile and then see what pace I got. It was right around 9:0x for most of my miles, so I figured I would go out 5 miles then pick up the pace on the way back. At 4 miles I got to run some hills. The Columbus half does have some inclines and declines, and since I have only been running on flat routes, I figured that was a good thing to train on.
I has happy to see that my miles with “hills” didn’t affect my paces, but I wasn’t able to run faster than a 9 minute mile on the way back! In fact, when I got to mile 8 I had to stop and stretch due to glute pain. Ugh. I considered just walking home, but 2 miles is a long slow walk, so it was best just to run it in. Curses on you stupid glutes!!!
Given that, I’ve now decided I don’t think I’m in any shape to go for a PR at Columbus, so I’m just going to come up with a plan that will hopefully end with negative splits and a happy smile crossing that finish line! I’ve got over a week to figure the paces out.
Hope you are having a great weekend! I’m looking forward to having a less busy weekend around here! If it actually gets less than the current 80 degrees outside during the day, I’ll put up some Halloween decorations. I just didn’t feel like it when I had to turn on my air conditioner to cool the house down!!
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Q: Have you put up any Fall or Halloween decorations at your house?
I hear it is supposed to get cooler this weekend, but during the week it seemed like summer!!
Q: How long does it take you to get ready for work typically? How long does it take when you are crunched for time??
Q: Do you like to just run by “feel” or do you check on your pace a lot?
Love the GOLD color shirt! Definitely easy to spot!!! And, you know, I don;t have a shirt that color…. hmmmm, may need to add to my running gear now!
No halloween decorations at my house…. I had BIG plans to do so, but unfortunately, not going to happen this year. Just WAY TOO MUCH going on! UGH!
I have only do the run by how I feel one time….. and during a half marathon! Did so for the first 6 miles and was SHOCKED when I saw my time!!!! I ended up PRing!!!! I really think my watch makes me mentally analyze too much!!! I do pace my long runs because I tend to run slower since reading about the elite runners doing so…. so hard to slow down and stay controlled, but in the end, I know that long runs have to be slower in order to obtain any benefit…. and, with seeing benefit, I continue to slow myself down! It is way hard! Often, I look at my watch and I am like, OK…SLOW DOWN!
I agree – I made it a point not to check my watch right away on my race. If it was fast, I would get nervous and feel too tired, and if it was slow, I’d feel sad.