Good Week

I wasn't really sure what this past week was going to be like but it turned out to be a really good week. I was supposed to run 3 miles on Monday night but for whatever reason, that didn't happen. Tuesday, I decided to go out for a short one mile run. I hadn't ran a fast mile in a few weeks so I wanted to see where I was. The last time I did a mile as fast as I could, my finish time was 11:06 on July 22. I was so close to being under 11 minutes so I wanted to try it again. I went out, pushed myself and finished the mile in 10:51. I think I probably could have gone a little faster but it was still so hot that night. It is usually around 80-85 degrees when I run but Tuesday it was still 90 because I ran a little earlier.(9:30 instead of 11:30-midnight)

Wednesday it rained most of the day. That night I decided to go out for my scheduled 3 miles excited that it was only 78 degrees. I got outside and started my warm up. I knew the air felt really thick because of the rain earlier in the day. After my first lap doing intervals, I was SOAKING wet. I checked the weather on my phone and saw that even though the temps were lower, the humidity was at 94%. I was dying. As I finished my second lap and approached the one mile mark, I SERIOUSLY considered just going home. But for some reason, I kept going. It was miserable and the humidity was getting WORSE. It was probably about 99% when I finished my 3 miles. I was glad I got it done and I had a decent pace even though I felt like I was swimming instead of running.Of course, 100 feet from my house, it started raining. If it had started when I started running, it would have been a great run but since it held off, I was fighting climbing humidity the entire time.

I am trying to build back up to being able to run a full 30 minutes again since I did not maintain it after I hit that mark in May.(Mostly due to starting Insanity) I am using the same interval progression that I used last time from the WW 5K program but instead of limiting it to the repetitions on the plan, I am doing them for the duration of my 3 mile runs. I'm going to do this until the intervals get really long later in the plan and then I will just do them for the first 30 or so minutes of the run and then switch back to shorter intervals for the rest. The first few days of the plan call for 1/1 intervals which is my normal and that's what I did for Wednesday. On Thursday, I was set to go up to a 2 minute run, 3 minute walk. I knew this was going to slow down my average pace but I want to build back up so I did it. My fastest mile was run with 1/1 intervals. If I run a mile straight, I am still over 12 minutes and will be for a while I am sure but I also know that if I can start running at least 30 minutes straight for the first part of my weekday runs, my intervals on the long weekend runs will be much stronger because I will have much more endurance. That is why I am building back up.

Thursday night was very similar to Wednesday since it rained all day again but fortunately, it wasn't quite as humid, only about 85%.  I started out by doing one lap in the neighborhood and then decided to venture out to our longer route on the closed road so that I couldn't quit early. As I started out of the neighborhood, I changed my mind. My stomach wasn't feeling 100% and I didn't want to get stuck without an option for a place to stop. Instead of turning right to head to the gate road, I turned left and went to the PT track that is near our neighborhood. It is a 0.4 mile loop around  a few rows of buildings that are used as soldier barracks for international troops. Currently, they are empty so it is a nice and quiet, well lit area to run. Plus since I wasn't running past my house every lap it made quitting early a little harder but I was still close enough that if I needed to, I could get home quickly.  I decided to do a mile and a half around the track before heading back into the neighborhood to finish up the last mile. After finishing my four laps there I did two more in the neighborhood. When I came inside after, I looked like I had been playing in a sprinkler. I was SOAKING wet again and the sweat was pouring down my face. My pace was much slower than usual due to the different intervals but I got the 3 miles done and I was happy.

My normal weekly schedule is 3 miles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a longer run on Saturday. I changed things up to Monday, Wednesday and Thursday because of two reasons. We had friends coming into town on Friday and I had decided to run the Hotter than Hades 5K again this year. I knew that it would be best for me to rest Friday night if I wanted to have a good race Saturday morning. I was praying for good weather. 

I ran this race the first time in 2011.  It was hot, humid and I finished at around 55 minutes. In 2012, I decided to run it again and it was hot humid and I finished in 44:28 and it was my first sub 45 5K. This year, the weather was PERFECT. It was only around 70 degrees when the race started and it was a normal morning humidity for TX of around 65%. I felt really good and ready to do it. Mac was actually able to run with me this year which was nice. We started out good even though I had a little hiccup with forgetting to change the intervals in the Garmin so it didn't start tracking us until right after we started since I had to change them. Fortunately, Mac paid attention to the clock time as we went by so I could have an accurate time. I was REALLY hoping for a sub 40 time. I came so close at the July 4th 5K but just missed it(40:25). I knew that if I kept to my intervals and didn't start too fast, I had a good shot. It was crazy how quickly this race seemed to pass. I remember being surprised when we were already done with two miles and I still felt really strong. Doing 5 miles every Saturday for the past 3 weeks has really paid off. The only problem I had that morning was dealing with sweat getting in my eyes and then my ear buds falling when I would take my sunglasses off to wipe it away. I never stopped but it did slow me down a little. Finally when we were headed away from the sun, I just took the sunglasses off and handed them to Mac. Before I knew it, we were down to only two turns and you could see the finish line. I was starting to feel a little tired. I changed up my interval a little so that I could wait and run the last stretch of the course. After making the final turn, I started running again. I got a little aggravated because there was a guy that kept getting in the way and made it hard for me to get by and finish. I knew I needed to finish with a clock time of 40:20 or less for me to hit my goal. Then I noticed that they clock was at around 39:30 and I didn't have far to go. I became determined to finish before the clock hit 40. I finally started speeding up and forced my way past the guy. Mac yelled, "Go, baby!" To which I replied, "I'm going." I sprinted to the finish line and out of the corner of my eye saw 39:59 on the clock. I did it! I finally finished a 5K in less than 40 minutes. My actual time was 39:37. I was so happy. That race has come to mean a lot to me over the last few years. I was glad to pick up a t-shirt this year since they started selling them at the 5Ks instead of raffling them off last year. The 5K is free so paying a little for the shirt doesn't bother me at all. The shirts this year were really cool so Mac and I grabbed one before the race. When we were done and I saw the shirts in the car, I commented that now I have a shirt from my first sub 40 5K.

After the 5K we headed to brunch at a local all natural, very tasty cafe. The food was so good and the protein from the bacon and eggs really hit the spot. We did a little shopping and then hit a farewell bbq for Mac's 1st SGT. I stayed away from all of the crazy sweets they had and focused on the tasty bbq chicken and the awesome pineapple they had. At the end of the day, I still felt really good and the temperature was amazing after the sun went down. I told Mac that I really felt like going for another run and since the schedule had 5 miles on it, that we should at least do two miles. He agreed and we headed out. He road his bike because his legs was bothering him a little and the last thing we need is for his stress fracture to return. I decided I wanted to do 3 miles which we did. When we finished up, I was tired but I still felt good. I basically did a 10K over the course of the day yesterday. My average paces for both runs were pretty good and I felt strong.

I am finally really starting to feel like a runner. I've said that I am a runner for the last two years because I am but I am finally starting to feel it. Most nights, I would dread my runs until I got started. Once I got going I was good but I was always pretty tired when I was done. Now when I am doing these shorter weekday runs, I usually feel pretty good at the end. Even the 5 miles we did last weekend seemed to go by really smoothly. I am finally building a good solid base and I'm at the point where my body can handle it much better. I am becoming very hopeful about the Tower of Terror Ten Miler in 7 weeks. I will finish the 6 week plan to getting to a 30 minute run so I should be nice a strong for my short intervals and I have a good plan for the long runs to help me build up and push back that wall. I'm finally really excited about where my running is going instead of just pushing through and hoping that I will eventually get better at it.