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January 3, 2011
More and less
For the last few months, since I got sick and fell so far behind in my "training," I guess, I've been having a really hard time on my runs. Most of the time I manage to make my 20 minute minimum, but it seems like the only reason I push that far is because I know the end is coming up, and I refuse to give up. Which, goody for me, but I feel like death, and there's no way I'm going to make 25 minutes, much less a 5k.
I've kept pushing on, thinking it would get easier, it's because some weeks I'm only managing two-a-weeks, the Shred is wearing me down, it's cold. I finally came up with a new plan to extend my running: I was going to run 20, walk 2, then run another 5. The C25K had done something like that, and I figured it couldn't hurt. I didn't want to start that tonight, though, since I'd only run twice last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, and I didn't want to step up when I was probably already going to be short of oomph.
And then.
And then!
I ran tonight. And I felt good. For the whole run! Even the extra 5 minutes I tacked onto the end, because I didn't feel like I was going to die. And when I finally did stop, it was because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to walk tomorrow if I didn't, not because I was wheezing and my legs felt like lead.
I wish I knew what made tonight different, so I could do it every time I run. And I truly hope this is the new normal, and not just a fluke.
The only down side of tonight (and I hate to bring it up, on such an upbeat post) is that I ran with both my old iPod/Nike+ pod combo, and my new iPhone using the Nike+ GPS app. The mileage didn't just not agree (which I expected), it was off by nearly a third of a mile. I'm not 100% convinced that the GPS app is strictly accurate (mostly based on iTunes reviews, which I don't necessarily trust, either,) but I'm sure it's closer than the pod.
Maybe that's why the 5k races I've done have felt so much longer than my 5k training runs!
Posted by me at January 3, 2011 10:12 PM