It seems like, for no reason, you can just have one of "those" days. They don't have to be all bad either. Sometimes it feels like you can just run forever, as fast as you want. But then just as often even running slowly feels like drudgery and nothing outside of stopping and laying down is going to make it better. Well today I had one of "those" days, but...in a good way.
I'm pretty sure it was because I was properly fueled up. Lately I've been able to run midmorning and so haven't been using any gels because I've been eating breakfast before getting out to run. Today I decided to take a gel. Gu, Just Plain flavor. I actually expected it not to be so tasty, like swallowing a wad of phlegm in my mouth. Makes me wonder why I tried it. But it was delightful. Kind of a hint of the vanilla flavor of their Vanilla bean gel but less overpowering. I think I'll continue to use it. Unless of course I switch to the Gu Roctane formula. More caffeine, more other stuff = more better.
But I digress. So I biked to the club to hit the treadmill again (in the 80's today) with no expectation. As you know I haven't been so happy with my training lately so I decided not to have a goal in mind, just run and do what I could do and receive the training stimulus from that and move on to the next day. First order of business was getting my left ankle loosened up again. Check. Then getting in the two warm up miles before I moved on to the MP portion of my workout. Check. I cranked up the speed and didn't really feel like I was feeling any better or worse than I have been lately but after a bit I adjusted to the pace and noticed my HR was fairly low. Lower than it has been recently. I felt good too. Just cruising along, watching the miles tick by. I had to make a short stop at about 8 miles because the treadmills at the club reset after 60 minutes (is this really necessary?). I got right back into it and put in 4 more miles for a total of 10 @ 7:13 pace. Quite happy with that. My HR stayed low throughout and I ended with it topping out at 166. Usually these runs bring me close to or over 170 for a bit. My average HR was 150 versus the 155 and 156 that I've been seeing lately. I hope this is not an aberration; that it's a sign that the training is taking hold and I can expect better in the future.
All in: 12 miles at 7:30.
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- AZ
- 2010 goal is a marathon each month. 2011 is an iron distance triathlon. Read about how it goes down.
Currently Training For...
- Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2011
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The next (scheduled) race starts in (give or take a day):
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Personal Bests
- 5k 18:31 Jan. 31, 2007 Oda Field Time Trial
- 10k 40:48 Feb. 4, 2007 Kanagawa Half Marathon
- Half 1:28:18 Feb. 4, 2007 Kanagawa Half Marathon
- Full 3:18:13 Feb. 18, 2007 Tokyo People's Marathon
- Half Iron Triathlon 5:49 June 9th, 2009 Liberty Triathlon
- Olympic Triathlon 2:42 June 2008, Oshima Japan
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3 comments:
Very nice running, AZ. I have had a couple of "those days" this week, but I am attributing it to the weather. Good grief, has it been hot! That has certainly made for tougher running, so I am hoping fall is around the corner! :)
the 'just plain' flavor seems weird to me too, i haven't given it a shot yet.
glad you had a good run and hope you are beginning to feel better about your running! never fun to be in the dumps about it.
it's annoying when gym treadmills auto-stop. i understand why they do it, kind of. helps reinforce that there aren't any tm hogs as not everyone is as nice about it. i know i'd hop off after an hour if there were people waiting, but not everyone would. however, i rarely see people going for more than 30-60 minutes on a treadmill, lets be real! most people hate it :)
What I've noticed, Lindsay, is that 90% of people don't even work out for an hour and have never noticed all the treadmills being used at one time and people waiting. Oh well, just have to restart it again (and take a break for a few seconds).
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