Paced Rachel through a 5 mile tempo. She was aiming for a 10:30 pace and ended up running a 9:57 pace. It was a hot one today too. She didn’t like it much but she did it, got past some negativity, and she kept it moving. She finished! Way to go Rachel, Woohoo!!
Next, I did my own 5 mile tempo at 7:00 pace on the nose. Felt pretty solid except for a couple moments when my pace slipped up or down. Had some of that negativity of my own that Rachel had and that made me think about how I’ve been doing and how I cope today. Looking back, I used to let the negativity get the better of me quite often. I think I’ve learned to focus more on the positive when it gets tough, I mean really focus like a laser…1) I’m running! 2) I can easily get back on pace 3) It hurts, it’s hot, it sucks, but I’m still running! 4) When I’m done I can say ‘I did it!’
Been blessed in more ways than one including running with great friends… thanks Rachel!
Been doing fairly well sticking to pace and mileage needs for the Oil Creek 100 and qualifying with a 3:15:00 in September. 40 miles so far this week and should end up with about 55. Tough part is trying to keep up with work, volunteer, and social activities and I’m sure it will get tougher as mileage goes up every few weeks. Trying to keep up the speed work with the mileage increases is going to be tricky….little nagging feeling…but feeling positive and optimistic for the most part. I expect David will keep me on track, his speed work has been good.
That being said…ran intervals yesterday, 6/17/09…hot again and humid…ran 4×800 at 3:15 with 90 second rest, and felt the left leg tighten up a bit even though I was holding back and trying to stay close to the scheduled pace. Tendency is to push it too much, the adrenaline gets you going and all that. Think the heat was getting to me, little dehydrated. So, I ran the 5th and 6th interval back-to-back in 6:48…just to be done with it. Happy with that! Man, I hate intervals (there’s that negativity again) …but it’s so good when you are done! :-)