Ok. Now I am getting concerned. Someone who views the world as half-full might say another stellar mid-distance run is cause for more celebration. I’m not that someone. I am a half-empty sort of guy … if you couldn’t tell by now. I’m always waiting for the sky to fall after the sun shines brightest. I blame most of it on my career choices … initially a lawyer and then Wall Street (please don’t hate me, I’m one of the good guys out here). I’m troubled, but that is the subject for separate, extensive psychological analysis. Here we only delve into my running neurosis.
I slept hard again, which is a great sign. I didn’t want to get out of bed. Cold weather tends to have that effect on me. I lounged around and eventually made it out by 11:30am. Nice and late. The forecast called for 5 inches of snow at some point, but when I left the apartment it was still clear (16* wind chill). Since today was a planned LRish run on the Outer Loop, I started off easy to make sure I had enough in reserve to finish relatively strong. I’m not sure why, but it took longer than usual to shake all the bleh out … probably 4-5 miles. These were not bad miles, but it just took awhile for everything to fall into place. Nonetheless, I felt pretty good about how I navigated the rolling hills … after I hit the peak I accelerated downhill rather than coast to catch my breath.
At mile 7, I GU’d and refueled my now not so new handheld water bottle (Amphoid). From there, it all absolutely clicked on the second loop … big time. I was flying. I wasn’t completely surprised because GU does have caffeine so you feel a “high” for a bit. However, this was different. By the time I hit mile 11, I had to consciously slow down. I was rolling at a 5K pace and getting faster. Since I didn’t want to (a) give another race effort 6 weeks before the actual HM and (b) bonk on this particular run, I turned the gas off. Still, I ended up with a strong result … 13.6 miles at 8:12 pace. That is just too fast for me right now for that training distance. I’m working too hard to hit it. When I get that beast feeling I just keep the pedal to the metal, which is not what LR’s are about. Next week, I want to push the distance further which by definition means I will need to slow it way down. I don’t look at my watch while in motion, so even leaving it at home wouldn’t necessarily cause me to slow down. I just need to go back to the penguin days of running.
After all that babbling, the bottom line is I am starting to become a pretty decent runner. I think my lung capacity is improving. My legs have always felt like they could do much, much more, but endurance held me back. Despite my whining, complaining and worrying, I am improving. Numbers don’t lie. I still have many, many mountains to climb, but I guess I am getting better. Thanks for bearing with me.