4 weeks out...

After a week of pathetic workouts and a nagging cold/virus that was just bad enough to keep me from working but not bad enough to make me feel justified in sitting around like a lazy ass, I am finally back in the saddle. Woke up this morning to a beautiful blue sky and temps in the high 40's. Had a nice 6 mile run all planned out and headed out the door right at 9am, with some caffeine on board and plenty of glycogen in my muscles from philly soft pretzels at dinner last night. About a quarter mile into my warm up I had an abrupt change of heart and decided that I was going to break with tradition. Rather than running a completely planned out route, in which I knew every mile marker and would therefore be racing myself for splits, I decided to change my route, run on feel and go for time rather than distance. After about a mile and a half I turned on Westerly Pkwy, which if followed until it terminates (now named Easterly) at University Dr is all on the flat or downhill. Felt very nice. For once I had a sense of what a comfortable pace is supposed to feel like. As I came upon University I decided that the large hills were not going to float my boat, so I turned around and ran back in the opposite direction and skipped the hills. The nice tailwind I had been riding (without realizing) now turned into a headwind which made things a little cooler and a little slower. I practiced Jenny Hatfield's technique for running on hills for the little .6mile hill on Waupelani heading back to my house. Finished in my driveway a little under 48 minutes (5.8ish miles), took a minute long break (that was niiice) and actually started running again. Did a little 1+ mile cool down, rounding out my run at 6.86 miles in a little over 57 minutes. The whole thing felt pretty good. I think I accomplished one of my goals, to run easier and a little slower.

Then, me being me, I came inside to look at my pace for the various legs of my run. I had wanted to run at a more moderate pace, not pushing so hard. The pink (rather than fire engine red) flush on my cheeks suggested that in terms of efforts I was on the right track. I didn't feel totally wrecked. My feet were not too bad. A little tightness in the left ankle, but manageable. My overall pace was 8:21. At first this was pleasing. Perceived effort was down but the pace only slacked by a little over 10 seconds. Then I started feeling that this was too slow and that I should have run faster. What is wrong with me?

All in all, a great training run. I wish I could have weekday runs like my Sunday runs. 4 weeks til race day! 3 weeks, 5 days til applications go in. (16 cover letters drafted as of Friday. 4 to go. Oh and one beast of a neuropsych report that I need to finish off.)

57:19min  /  6.86miles  = 8:21min/mi