I didn't so much wake up this morning as much as I rolled out of bed. I'm not sure I really slept last night, therefore there was not much waking up to do. I really wanted to use this morning's running time to get an hour of sleep but I could tell it was pointless so I got up.
I drank my juice and stretched and watched the day's weather forecast. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was warmer than I expected it to be this morning. When I arrived at the park the gate as closed and a big sign indicated that the park would be closed for December and January. I stopped and asked the park manager if it would be okay for me to continue to come in and run in the mornings. He had no problem with that.
Today's run was my first since the Wedesday before Thanksgiving. I had intended to run either Friday or Saturday but let laziness win out. Today I was slated to run a full 25 minutes just like days 1 and 2 of week 7.
On top of improving my strike from a heel strike to more of a toe/midfoot strike I've been working on my pace. It's a bit challenging with just a stop watch and my brain to keep count of steps, but I'm managing. My method is to count how many strides I take in 10 seconds and then multiply that by 6. 162 strides per minute is a good comfortable pace for me amd I was able to maintain that for most of my 25 minute run today.
I'm not ready to say running for a solid 25 minutes is easy, but it's not as hard as I imagined it would be. I'm able to keep up a decent pace for the full 25 minutes and only feel moderately fatigued by the end. If I pace myself correctly, I still have enough left to push up to a pretty hard run for the final 2 minutes. Overall I'm pleased with my progress and I'm looking forward to the challenge of adding 3 minutes for a total of 28 in week 8. Only two more weeks to go! Then what?
I think I'm going to start trying to get to the pool 3 days a week in an attempt to work my way up to being able to swim a mile.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be running in a 5K on Saturday. There's one near home and I'd like to do it since I didn't get to run in the Turkey Trot. Looks like the weather will be perfect, too. I'm looking forward to it.
Today's Stats: I did my standard 2.8 miles today in 31:31. That's just one second faster than I did the same distance ten days ago. It seems I've arrived at a pretty consistent pace. Doing my course in 31:31 put me at a pace of 11:15/mile. I will be very pleased if I can maintain that same pace during Saturday's 5K.
Next Up: Week 8, Day 1 adds 3 minutes for a total of 28 minutes. Sounds easy enough. Can I do it and maintain today's pace? I guess I'll know on Wednesday.
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