...The little braids I got done in Mexico a little over a week ago. Official end to vacation, official end to half-a-- training.
Day 1, Cycle 3: 6-mile hill workout (58:40, avg 9:53). 1 mile cooldown. Total: 7.
Today was my hardest workout to date. I almost skipped it, taking a nap after lunch and reading. In the daze of a lazy afternoon nap, I decided to start on Monday with day 1 of my third cycle, a day late (cheater). Then I woke up in a fit of guilt (was raised Catholic; I credit this with what I think is a very strong guilt complex), rose to do laundry, try and clean the house and rushed off to do run.
Started at tough 8:49 pace on level 12 on treadmill, which alternated between a 2 and 7.8 incline. By minute 18 I had to slow down. I felt my lunch ready to come up, which made no sense as I'd eaten three hours prior.
I walked every 7 or 8 minutes for 1 minute. My running pace was for most of the run was a 9:31 pace.
The run felt good. My invisible wall has always come around miles 2 and 3, as it did once again tonight. By the end of the run, I began picturing the end of the Vegas marathon, qualifying. I ran harder. In my vision, in typical dramatic fashion, I had crossed the finish line somewhere around 3:39 and was doubled over um, to be polite, tossing my cookies.
Anyway, was somehow motivated by this. Well, whatever motivates you, you know?
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Dear FR,
It depends on what you're running for. Are you training for something? That is, will running hard affect you down the line - cause forced breaks, affect future training runs or actual races? If not, and you're casually running till you decide on the next race, just listen to your body. If it's telling you to go and you're feeling it and tomorrow dont' wake up in pain, I'd say go for it. You know your body best.
As for looking back on past achievements with regret, I say: Don't do it. It was your FIRST RACE EVER. Many runners start with a 5K. Not FR. A half marathon is a long way to run. RESPECT THE DISTANCE, experts say. You respected the distance, and, as your coach, would even say you undertrained. you finished strong, you finished healthy, and look - 2 weeks later you're back running. Had you gone out harder, it might have been several weeks before you were out again.
If lowering your time is your goal, save it for your next race. By then, you will be two races away from being a coach yourself.
Keep running!
Signed, RC
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