You ever have one of those runs where you stop and go, "Whoa. What's going on here?"
It was one of those runs tonight.
I'm being a little flexible with my training plan this week since it's just a few days after the Oshkosh Half Marathon. I did a short recovery run last night and tonight, even though the plan said 3 miles, I wanted to get in the 7 miles that I supposed to have done on Tuesday. Just some minor flipping.
But I really wasn't in the mood to run 7 miles on the treadmill. I just didn't have it in me tonight. And it was still pretty sloppy outside (the 6-inches of dang snow Mother Nature dumped on us yesterday was starting to melt) and I really didn't want to destroy the new pair of shoes I'm breaking in on their second run. I was psyching myself up for the treadmill when it hit me.
The running/walking track at the YMCA. You know, the one where 11 laps equals a mile? Was I up for 77 laps or would I get dizzy after running in circles for that long? Didn't matter to me. .
I got to the YMCA and started to run. The first mile? It seemed pretty easy and honestly I thought I was going fairly slow. But when I finished lap 11 I glanced down at my watch: 9:15. Uh, what? Knowing I still had 6 miles in front of me, I tried to hold back a bit. I guess I was successful since I clocked a 9:25 for the second mile. But I was still feeling good. So I tried to keep the pace. The next three miles were all in that 9:15 to 9:30 range. In fact my two slowest miles - 9:44 and 9:56 - were during the last two miles where my legs were starting to get a tiny bit angry with me.
I finished the 7 miles in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 30 seconds for a 9:30 min/mile pace. Umm, where did that come from? Did I get new legs overnight and nobody tell me? Because I don't think I've ever done that before. Not that I'm complaining.
Obviously I had a good night running in circles at the track. My only gripe? There were a lot of walkers up there tonight and most of them understood how it worked. Slower folks on the inside lanes, don't walk 4 people across. Well except for one couple. They were spread out across the entire track and I'd have to weave around them every lap. You'd think after I passed them 15 times (remember I was going for 77 laps) they'd get the hint and realize they needed to walk on the inside and not spread out. Nope. Did it the entire night. Frustrating. Especially when I'm trying to pass them on a tight corner. Grrr.
1 comment:
Were you at the 20th Ave Y? When my son had b-ball practice a few months ago I would do 4 miles on the track and it was painfully boring. We also had the problem with the walkers and finally on the third week the person supervising the gym would come up every so often and advise those walkers where to go. I agree, after passing them numerous times and cutting back in front of them, you'd like they would get the hint. We always had this girl with a stroller and her mom who would take up the whole track and you would have to say something EVERY time you passed. The rudiness of some people.
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