On Monday, I got up for my run at 6:30. Of course, I had to actually go through the motions of getting out of bed (which was really hard), and then getting some food and water in my system before running, making sure I knew what I was doing, getting dressed, getting out the door, warming up, running, and cooling down. After all that, I wasn't quite to work as early as I would have liked.
Today, I got up at 6:15. And got out of bed at probably about 6:18. Not too bad... still only had the alarm go off once (although I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to turn the dang thing off for a while). But then I got up and stumbled out to the living room to start the process of getting going. And that's where I was suddenly confronted by the massive pile of cardboard boxes that we've been storing up recently. Well, confronted by the pile... *and* the knowledge that today is trash/recycling day! So, the first thing I got to do in my less-than-awake state was to break down the boxes for recycling and run around the house to make sure all the trash was out the door in time for the trucks, which usually start showing up around 7AM. And then I had to eat (Gu Chocolate Outrage today... yum!), get some water, get dressed, etc. And I was out the door at something like 6:47. Still not bad.
The first half mile was terrible. I did a five minute walk to try to get muscles moving, but they didn't want to be awake any more than I did. But I fought through, and after a mile, I realized I was moving pretty well and getting into a good rhythm. And then, after another half a mile (or so), it happened... I was really moving. And it was almost effortless.
Yes, today was one of those great days we all wait for. Everything was working for me. My legs felt great, my lungs felt great, my energy level was way up there, and the temperature was only low 70s. It was... perfect.
So, the way I've been doing my weekday training runs lately is to run 1/2 mile, then walk 1 minute. After that, I finish out the second 1/2 mile (bringing total run-walk-run to 1 mile) and walk a minute. It seems to be averaging out to be about .06 or .07 miles walking, followed by .42/.43 miles running. And so far, it's been working pretty well. Monday, I was doing OK, but not great... it was something like 5:15 to finish each half mile. Good for a training run, sure. But not magical.
Today... I was finishing in 4:45... and that included the walking! I felt so freakin' good that I tacked an extra 1/2 mile at the end of the run, just because I didn't want to stop. Of course, then I had to get to the whole "going-to-work" thing, but I really didn't want to.
For everyone's entertainment, here is the lap pace chart from MotionBased for this run. It took a couple laps for me to realize I had to hit the button, but I think it gets the point across.
I love days like this.
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