At the start of this weekend I planned to try to build some strength and endurance by running my long run through the hills of Central Park. I was hoping to get to 10 miles, but as long as I surpassed my 8 from last week that was going to be enough. But then a funny thing happened that changed my plans. I texted my friend Cam, to see if I could have a phone date with her later in the week to go over some ideas I had for continuing my race training. Cam went from about a 2:15 half to sub 2 hrs in just 3 halfs, so I was interested in her opinion. Our text convo altered my plan for the weekend.
Cam told me to push myself on my next run - harder than I think I could go - on my next run. "It should not feel fun or easy, it should kind of suck," she said.
"I like that plan. A little nervous about doing it for long run cause then what if I burn out and can't finish?" I replied.
"That's the problem right there. You can't think like that. Tell yourself your'e going to do it. Worst case you feel like crap and you have 3 miles left, you can easily bang through those last 3, it's nothing!"
In a way it kind of set off a light bulb. Maybe I'm letting myself be too comfortable - I'm too afraid I won't be able to finish my mileage. Kind of the way I used to hesitate trying to do sprint work outs. Now, I still know that conventional running advice says to take your long run slow, so I wasn't going to try for anything SUPER crazy, but I also thought, you know what, push yourself out of your comfort zone - Cam's right!
I was still worried about making it to the 8+ miles, so I altered my route through the park to involve less hills and more laps around the bridal path / reservoir [although I did get a bit of mini-hills in there]. So...how did it go?
Made it through a lot of my To Do List this weekend! |
It was a success! I did it! 10 miles! I followed Cam's suggestion and was surprised at how easy the first few miles at the faster pace felt. In fact, several times when I looked down at my watch I was shocked to see the sub-10:00 minute pace. It didn't feel like I was pushing that hard. Is it possible that the sprints and tempo run are paying off already? I don't know, but I'll take it!
Okay, so I couldn't hang onto the pace through those later miles, but I still averaged 10:12/mi! Success! |
Also, for the first time in a long time I didn't get sick after a long run - talk about a fabulous weekend! More on that later....
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