Wednesday, October 6, 2010

I Don't Know How You Guys Do It!!

Last night was pretty epic!

At least it was epic for me! I ran my fastest mile to date, coming in at 9:21. It felt so good, I wish I could always do it and maintain that pace.

I started out knowing I just wanted to squeeze in a shorter, yet faster run before Glee came on. (Oh my gosh, could you watch it and NOT feel the urge to cry by the end??)  At first I thought to myself "this feels good, a little faster than normal, but certainly nothing crazy."  Looked down at ye olde Garmin ... I was going at about 9:20 pace. WHAT?? Um, yeah - I think my fastest 5K average pace was about a minute slower than that.  I decided to just continue with that pace since it felt good. At times I even got faster. I pushed up this small hill and was happy for the downhill. This is when I decided to just go for it and see what these legs could do.  I kid you not, for a while I was at 7:44. Yeah, that didn't last long, but it lasted long enough to register with me and my Garmin. I am still in shock. 

Mile two wasn't bad either. I did walk for just a couple seconds here and there, but mostly ran it. I admit I fully exhausted myself on mile one, but that was okay. It was actually part of my plan anyway.  The funny thing I noticed on mile two was that going faster felt easier on my body than going slower.  Is this a normal thing for everybody and I just now discovered it?  Also, I felt like my legs were not moving. It seemed like I was going in slow-motion. I looked at my Garmin - 10:20. Like I said, that is my prior PR pace. The fact that it felt like I was just crawling really amused me.

I might be reaching here, but it seems like FINALLY I am speeding up a hair! Right now what I really want is to do a 30 minute or less 5K.  My race PR is 32:21, or something close to that at least. I just want to break the 10 minute mile pace, even if it is just for one race in my life! Heck I'd take it during training and not complain!

Got home in time for Glee .... again, seriously, that episode was a doozy! And also had another round of rinsing blood out of my sock and shoe. It wasn't as bad this time, but I also ran less than half of the prior run where I soaked through everything. I'm taking tonight off in hopes that tomorrow night's run will be a "clean" one!

The point is .... I have no idea how you fast runners can maintain super fast paces for the entire length of your runs - especially when those runs are long! I am in total awe of you!!

I leave you now with a little quote and picture of my running idol, Steve Prefontaine, who incidentally raced with a foot full of stitches and won! (So my bloody shoe on Sunday, it was my little Prefontaine moment. Ha!)


13 comments:

  1. pre would have run so much faster if he would have just cut that 70s-hair and the porn-star mustache off

    thanks for the gonnies education and the fact that you have a sexy PR I just tangled with it my last race and posted a slightly better one

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  2. I can't seem to break a 10 minute mile and I've been running for a year now! What a bust!
    I guess it's better than just kickin' it on the couch though :)

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  3. zzzzZZZZZZoOOOOOoooOOOoooOOMM!!!!

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  4. Way to go on running your fastest mile Chica!

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  5. You can totally do it... my 5K pace is ridiculous compared to my half marathon pace (although still slow compared to most people). I can't run that pace any day of training ever. For some reason my inner runner-girl comes out on race day. You can break that 30 minute 5K, no problem. You just have to really suck it up and tell yourself the whole time "this is over in 30 minutes, just GO". I am fully confident you can pull it off, when's your next 5K?

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  6. The next one is on the 23rd. I AM feeling pretty confident going into it. Since the weather cooled off I feel like my performance has just taken off! Not confident I could break 30 at this one, but hoping for a new PR!

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  7. Congrats on your fastest mile! I know you can do a 5K in under 30!

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  8. I have only in the last few months been able to maintain sub 10 min miles. Just takes training! I envy those that thing 8.xx is SLOW! Keep it up, you rock!!

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  9. HAHA! What a fun post!!!!! I so understand the feeling. It's like "what is going on, is this me???" All the hard work is paying off, and - yes, you are speeding up!!! WOO HOO!

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  10. Holy cow - you're fast! My fastest mile ever in my one whole year of running was 14:30 -- and I was killing myself!
    We all have our own goals . . . luckily speed (other than to stay ahead of the Disney sweepers) is not one of mine! :)
    Good job!

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  11. I've been running since January 2009 and am still working towards my goal of a 30 minute 5K -- so far I've gotten to 37 minutes and a few seconds. Some day!!

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  12. Congrats on the 3 mile PR!! You WILL get faster, promise! I was in the same boat, my goal was to beat a 10 min mile avg pace on a 5k. I finally did it a year ago, and have since crushed it at my most recent 5k, getting a 27:15. I can assure you though that running that fast probably won't ever happen again for me, but I'm happy to say that's my PR. It was the perfect combination of perfect events....perfect day, flat course, great training leading up to it, and a zippy fast running partner that pushed me hard.

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