I was trying to figure out why I was only on week 2 of this training program when I know I've been running for three weeks now, then I realized I did week one of the 10k program first, then decided to switch to this. I didn't make an entry about last week's runs, but they were awesome. Sprinting was freaking hard, but it was cool when it was over. And allegedly interval aerobic training is more effective at burning calories, so maybe it'll give my weight loss a boost too. I hope it makes me faster. I feel a little faster, but that's probably due in large part to running at night in cooler weather than I'm used to. On Saturday I did my awesome 60 minute non-stop run, which even at my conservative pace estimate of 12 min miles is 5 miles! I felt like the coolest person ever.
Just finished this. It was pretty good. Made a new playlist and tried to zone out. I have a lot of weird momentary pains while running in various places: shins, achilles tendon, outside of ankle, ankle, back twinges, and the ever-present heel aches, but they usually resolve themselves after a minute or two, and I just keep slapping the pavement until the next pain arises. Pushed myself to do a whole 36 minutes so that I could feel sure I was doing at least the 3 miles. I sweated for the first time on a night run, so it must finally be getting to be summer. I'm noticing that I recover really fast. (Well, really fast compared to how I used to be. I don't know about other people.) I never really feel very out of breath, even when I feel like I'm going faster than my usual pace, and although I feel a little oofed when I stop, I feel like I return to normal pretty quickly. That's one of those measures of good fitness, isn't it? You should see if you feel yourself improving in that respect.
Wednesday: 30 minute tempo run
For any of my readers who might be wondering what a "tempo run" is... Just kidding. :) So I actually woke up at 5am this morning to go running, which is amazing. I knew I was going to be out tonight, possibly drinking a bit, so I knew I wasn't going to be up for a serious jog later. But when I set my alarm for 5am, I didn't actually imagine myself getting up. I figured I would not do it, and then end up having to do it at like 3pm in the burning hot sun and really half ass it. Especially when I had a hard time falling asleep last night from about 10 to 10:30. But miraculously I woke up at 5 and despite my efforts to go back to sleep for ten more minutes, just gave it up and got out of bed and changed. I felt a bit tired, but once I got started it was fine. The goal was 10 minute warm up jog, then 15 minutes at a faster pace than usual (10 minute mile), then a 5 minute jog to cool down. I was really feeling tired and not wanting to do anymore after 1 mile at the faster pace, but I stuck it out for the next half mile. I got the worst stitch in my side during the 5 minute cool down, but I just kept taking deep breaths and counting the seconds. I definitely felt like puking, but I refrained, which is all that matters. Running is f-ing hard sometimes.
Foot pain: Minimal. I felt some twinges, as always, in ankle and heel, but nothing too bad, and now it's feeling pretty good.
Thursday: 3 miles (fast)
This was just humbling. Stupid "fast." What does that even mean? Run faster than usual? Well, I can't run any faster than usual for extended periods of time. If I could, I would! I warmed up with a 5 minutes jog at normal pace, then managed to kick it up a bit for about 10 minutes before I had to slow down if I wanted to continue. And I tried to do another 10 minutes of faster pace after 5 minutes of slow jogging, but I felt like I was running through sand... couldn't work up any speed at all. Could've just been an off-day.
Saturday: 4 miles
So I just decided to run 5 miles instead. Doing a little speedwork has really made me appreciate running slow. I sort of feel like I could run forever at a slow pace now so long as I never had to speed up. It would help if there were no hills. So this was 60 continuous minutes, with some hills, and I finished it relatively easily. Awesomeness.
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