EXACTLY WHAT I NEED

This morning’s workout called for 11 miles with 7 at 15k to half marathon pace. I was excited about the workout, yet kind of dreading it at the same time because I knew it would hurt. I did a similar workout a month ago, but was on the treadmill, which makes the pacing a lot easier. This morning’s run was through the rolling terrain of Hyland Park. I was on the bike path, so it wasn’t has hilly as Trail Mix, but still, it wasn’t flat.

I thought 6:20 pace would be a good goal, but also wanted to give myself a little buffer. So I decided to try and run between 6:20 and 6:30 pace. Rather than ease into the pace and make excuses later, I figured I’d better go out hard if I really wanted to hit the lower end of that range. I came through the first mile in 6:19 – perfect. I was a little discouraged to see 6:28 after mile two, however, with the rolling terrain, all miles are not created equal. A 6:10 third mile bolstered my spirits and put me back on-pace. The last half mile before turning around was uphill in 3:18, followed by a downhill 3:05 – good enough for a 6:23 fourth mile. What came down at 6:10 pace on the way out went back up at 6:37 pace. I figured that’d be the case, so mentally I was prepared for what I saw. The last two miles were 6:22 and 6:29, which means I ran 6:24 pace for the 7-mile stretch. Not bad.

I'm actually pretty sure I can run a half marathon faster than 6:24 pace, (I ran 6:25 pace in January) but I'll take it since race paces are always hard for me to hit in training. My new "rule" is that whatever distance I can run in a race, I can only run half that distance in training - at the same pace.

As usual, thoughts of my last race continue to linger. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m more disappointed in my effort than in my time. I can’t remember how I came across this gal’s blog, but she raced a 10K over the weekend too and did an awesome job describing what was missing from my race;

Moments later just before the 6km marker, another set of steps came from behind and I could see in the shadow on the ground that this runner had two small pig-tails…crap! I thought, here we go. KR breezed by me quite easily and momentarily, I gave in and was about to shut down when I remembered what Fatty was drilling into my head all week 'if someone passes you, don't let them go. Focus on their back and think of nothing else, see nothing else and don’t let the gap get bigger no matter what'. So, I surged ahead and got right in behind her and did just that. Good gawd I wanted to stop about a dozen times. I think we both did! At the 8km the real fun began. KR and I played a stubborn game of cat and mouse, each taking turns leading, pushing each other, surging back and forth, hoping the other would crack. With about 800 meters to go, I made my move and opened up my stride, dug deeper still and managed to pull away. Today’s race wasn’t my best time-wise but mentally it was a great race experience. I learned that at the point (s) I feel like I have to stop that there is actually more in the tank to give.

That paragraph, along with today’s quote of the day, sums up exactly what I need to work on.

Quote of the day;

“...to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain – not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it.” – Dr. George Sheehan