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May 16, 2006
Fan-freaking-tastic
On the schedule today was an easy 4-miler. Now, recently I've sort of come to hate these short easy runs. They haven't been feeling good, I can't get settled into a pace, I don't feel like I'm warmed up until I'm done, etc, etc. As a result, I wasn't too excited about this run initially.Then I had an idea. Forget the "easy" pace. Let's just go out and run the darn thing at whatever pace I feel like. Sure, I'll take the Garmin, but only so it can tell me when it's time to turn around and head home. No pressure, no goals, no expectations. Just go out there and run 4 miles like I used to - before I knew about things like race pace and training pace and long run pace and all that crap. Just me, a new pair of shoes, and getting off my butt and outside in the spring weather for 40-45 minutes.
It. Was. Awesome. Sure, it was harder and faster than it was "supposed" to be, but it wasn't all out. It was just the pace that felt good at the time. And it wound up being surprisingly fast. After an first mile at 10:30, the rest clocked in at 9:30 - 9:40. I almost couldn't believe it. That makes it my fastest non-speedwork non-race run ever. It was just what I needed.
Posted by Dawn at May 16, 2006 07:40 PM
Comments
Freaky, I did the same thing. Same results. New shoes. Just ran. I wore my garmin to just see how I did afterwords. Like you I did real well.
Posted by: marathonmike at May 16, 2006 09:24 PM
I hate trying to run slower than my comfortable pace too, especially going up hills. It feels like way more work running up a hill at a slower than normal pace than if I ran it hard, for whatever reason.
Posted by: Jay T at May 17, 2006 06:29 AM
That's awesome! I'm just trying to learn all these paces and what they're for. Of course I know that there are beneficial reasons for using them but sometimes you just need to RUN! Good job!
Posted by: Heath at May 17, 2006 07:06 AM