Here it is Thursday, and I have not posted about the weekend run yet! My Boys & Girls Club opened this week, and that has been all-consuming as far as my time is concerned. I've made time to run and workout, but that is about it.
Saturday's run was the 10.1 again. I started out with the girls, who left me at First Street, then went on to Longhorn Dam. As with last week, it was a run a mile walk a minute day. I felt stronger at the end, though it was still tough to push myself that last little bit. My total time was 2:15:32 with an average speed of 4.5 and pace of 13.26 minute miles. I am working to get the time down, so I am no longer adding distance to my runs, at least not right now. While the time is slower then I would like, at least I see my times increasing bit by bit.
I am working on 2 ways to increase speed outside my Saturday runs. The first is that I am doing a timed mile on Wednesdays. Last Wednesday was only my second attempt, but I knocked 19 seconds off my mile from the previous week. I did not do the mile yesterday, as it was raining. How much was it raining, you might ask? Well, I would tell you, but I can't. I emptied my rain gauge twice, both times it was overflowing, which means 6 plus inches. Over the course of about 48 hours we received somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 inches at my house. That, my friends, is not good running weather. So, I will do the mile tomorrow. My goal will be a 10 minute mile for tomorrow, and ultimately I am looking to be able to sustain 5 miles at 9 minute miles.
The second way I am trying to improve my time is on my mid-distance runs. Ever since hitting 2.5 miles, I've started doing my training with the idea that I run a mile walk a minute. Now that I am running 10 miles on the weekend, it seems silly to do the run/walk combination on my mid-runs, so now I am working to run that one the whole distance. This morning was the first attempt, and I was pleased with myself. Total non-stop distance was 4 miles. Speed was 4.7 miles/ hour with an average mile of 12.59 minutes/ mile. My goal was 13, so I made the goal! I will continue this distance until I can get the time down to about 12.5, then will start increasing the mid-distance run.
One thing that has helped is hearing people talk about following my blog. One friend recently told me she was inspired to start running after reading it, and another told Maline that he reads it all the time and is impressed. We have a friend who is a runner and who used to run marathons who gives advice on technique, some of which I started implementing today, which is helpful. All this support and all these comments are helpful. No one says to run faster or better, which helps. They support me where I am, and I know that with friends and family supporting me, I will complete this race in February with no problem, whatsoever!
Well, back to work. Until next time, ponder these words from Michael Franti: "Love like your life depends on it because it probably does."
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