Week 7 day 1 is set up to be identical to week 6, day 3. The weather has warmed significantly over the last week or so. It's been perfect for running, though I wouldn't mind if it were just a few degrees cooler.
My left calf muscle is still a little sore from whatever happened last Wednesday, but is fine to run on. It actually feels pretty good to stretch it out and run on it.
Today's run felt almost easy. Keyword: almost. I took it slower than I did on Saturday, somewhat intentionally. I didn't intend to go as slowly as I did, but I learned something, and that's important. I ran the first half at a pretty slow pace (pace 1) and was able to breathe pretty easily the whole way. At that pace, I'm breathing in for three steps and out for four. At the turn around point I was almost right at the halfway point according to the watch. When I turned around, I picked up the pace slightly (pace 2) but was still able to maintain the same breathing pattern for several minutes. I reached a point where I had to push it up to three steps in and three steps out. Still, a fairly relaxed pattern, but feeling a little more like I was pushing myself. At that point I increased my stride length and tried to keep up the same stride frequency to increase my speed (pace 3). I was able to maintain the same breathing pattern and probably could have for quite awhile. At the point I was expecting to be close to finished I looked at the watch and found that I still had several minutes to go. I picked up the pace a hair (pace 4) and got to the point where I was breathing at a rate of two steps in and three steps out and continued that until the time was up. What I learned is that I can gauge my exertion level by my breathing pattern. Seems like a no-brainer, but I think I can use my breathing as a way to pace myself appropriately to be able to run longer distances.
For the Turkey Trot, my plan is to start at pace one for about 5 minutes and work up to pace two through the first two miles. I'm accustomed to walking 5 minutes to warm up, and that mileage has been included in the 2.8 I've been doing. I'm hoping keeping my running at a slower pace will be the equivalent of my five minute warm up. After two miles, I hope to have enough energy left to maintain pace 2 until I can see the finish line at which point I'll pick it up to pace 4. Using this strategy, I hope to be able to run the entire race. After 25 minutes of running today, I still had plenty of energy left. I'm pretty sure I could have gone on for another 5 or maybe even 10 minutes. I'm thinking another 5 minutes would have easily put me at or above 3.1 miles.
About running: I don't necessarily like it while I'm doing it and I definitely don't like dragging my lazy rear-end out of bed at 5:45 AM. Having said that, I love the sense of accomplishment I have after a run, and knowing that I've done something I couldn't have done just 4 months ago. I like knowing that I'm doing something good for my body. Looking back to week 1 when I was running sixty seconds at a time and dreading the three minute runs of week 3 is almost funny now. I remember wondering if there was any way I would really ever be able to run 20 or 25 minutes without stopping. Well, here I am. I'm doing it and I really have no doubts about being able to run 10 minutes on top of what I'm running now. Am I ready to run a marathon? No. Do I ever want to run a marathon? Doubtful, but I am very competitive with myself. I really like pushing myself harder at whatever I do, so the day could come that I want to do that. Right now, I think the challenge of a 5K is plenty for me.
Today's Stats: I did 2.8 miles in 33:02. That's somewhat slower than Saturday at a pace of 11:48/mile and slower than I had intended. I was a little disappointed at first, but I rationalized that it was probably better to wait and push myself harder for a faster pace on Thursday.
Next up: Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5K. While everyone else is watching Snoopy, Spongebob, and Kermit the Frog balloons float by on their TV screens I'll be burning off some of mom's turkey and dressing in which I'll be indulging later in the day. I'm trying not to be too goal oriented but I definitely want to beat my first 5K time of 36:22. That was my first run after taking over 3 weeks off, though I kept myself in shape on the elliptical machine and in the pool. I've run 41 miles since then and my average times are much lower than they had been so I'm hoping for a good race. One complicating factor is that they are calling for a pretty good chance of rain Thursday morning and it's going to be pretty cool. I'm trying to decide how to dress for a run in the rain.
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