The last few runs, have been difficult. Whether the weather, the darkness or just being plain old tired; it hasn't be enjoyable. I have run because I felt I "had" to rather than because I "wanted" to.
This week the tide seems to have turned. The humidity is all but gone and we are having fall-like weather. Perhaps I am the only one; but, I am relishing in the temperature change.
I went to yoga on Wednesday during my lunch hour with my friend Caroline. It was cool enough to be wearing a fleece on the way to and from the Hill, but the weather could not have been MORE perfect for an hour long Vinyasa Flow class. The class seemed to focus a lot on opening the hips and lengthing the calfs. Add to that a bit of shoulder stretching and you have the perfect yoga class for me and my runner's tighness. I LOVED it.
Last night, I went out for a BEAUTIFUL run after putting m. to bed. I mapped out a 5k in our neighbourhood, grabbed the pooch (who, after being left behind as of late due to the humidity or my planned distances, was SO happy to be coming along!) and laced up the shoes. My plan was to stick with 10:1s and to not skip out early on them - no matter how slow that made me.
With surprise, I felt great for the first 10 minutes - surpassing the distance I thought I would get in those 10 minutes. I felt STRONG and FAST. The second ten minutes were just a good and I was THRILLED to see I made it to the "almost" 3k mark when my alarm told me it was time for my second walk break. That means I managed an average pace of 7 minutes / km (faster, likely, since this also includes 1 minute of walking)... for 21 minutes! (Just to give you a baseline, I have been averaging somewhere between 7:20-7:45 on a good run)
At that point I knew I had a "long-ish" incline back up to the main road (about 1.5km) and my mindframe changed back to my plan to stick with those 10:1s. I'm not sure exactly HOW slow the next 1.5 km uphill were, but the imporant thing is I stuck to my plan and pushed through the incline. YES!
I felt great once I turned that corner knowing I only had .5 k to go and I went for it. I even managed to sprint those last 200 meters... and BOY did that feel good!
When my fast dog (who, when I was running a 7 minute kilometer, was just gingerly trotting alongside) has to run flat out to keep up... nothing better than that to boost your confidence. :)
So last night's run was a HUIGE WIN for me - no matter the final result (38.21 minutes for a 5k). It was exactly what I needed to rejuvenate my love of running. I couldn't have asked for better than that.
1 comment:
That sounds lovely! I had a hard, but satisfactory run after work yesterday. It was deceptively hot, I got rather sweaty and then sat on a bus. hehe... It sounds like you had one of those elusive "perfect" runs that we cherish and remember for months and months. This is a good thing. Did having the pooch along make it better, a sort of "sompany" so you weren't running solo?
Post a Comment