Hot Damn That Was Fun!

Saturday was an off day for me running. And good thing too. All that mugginess and rain would not have been fun. Sunday was amazingly beautiful and my legs really wanted to go. I'm getting close to tapering and I wanted to get in a few good, last workouts. I went out for 5 and averaged a 9:15 pace. Not hard--just smooth, moderate running.

Monday I got out for a nice easy run. Just 45 minutes of puttering around and pondering architecture, the delicious smells of soft pretzels baking, and shouting good morning to anyone who looked in my direction.

Tuesday was a terrible night of sleep. Tom was up all night working which I meant I was restless and didn't sleep either. I passed on a run knowing I had a day off worked into this week.

Last night was another bad night of sleeping but so it goes. My sister watched the kids so I could head to the track. This was my last tempo before the Distance Run and I wanted a good one. I decided to do 6 miles at HM pace. I wanted the miles to come in between 8:45-9:15.

The track was interesting this morning. A guy had parked his truck smack in the middle of the lanes to work on hammering the curb. At one point he opened his door and left it open making it impossible for me to pass. I slammed the door on my next lap and he looked annoyed at me. The feeling was mutual. I shot him a look that seemed to silent him. Tom knows the look;)

Then a lady in a motorized chair came on the track to exercise her dog. She was very nice but a bit erratic. She kept wanting to talk to me which is tough during a track workout with headphones on. And then there was the cleaning crew. In short, there was a lot of activity while I was running. But it made it interesting.

Here's the splits:
8:15
8:17
8:22
8:22
8:17
8:08

Hmmmmmmmm. Again, not working overly hard--could have done a few more miles at that pace. Breathing was controlled and I kept wondering what would crap out first-my lungs or my legs. Ends up everyone played beautifully together. By mile 6 my legs were a little tired , my breathing a little heavier but by no means was I huffing and puffing or even praying for it to be over. I enjoyed it. I was even giddy at the end.

I think this must be the culmination of some good, hard training. I'm about to taper and needed that work out more psychologically than physically. It does make me wonder about what time to look for at the PDR. This was a great workout. But it was on a track which I realize is different from race running. But given how good I felt, I wonder if I should be a little more aggressive in 2 weeks. But then I again I go out too fast. I think this comes down to experience. I have no experience running a half marathon so this will be a learning event for me.

I have a 10 mile scheduled for Friday and I'm curious to see how I feel. If I feel really strong, like today, I may adjust my goal.