Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Not bad. (if I say so myself)

The sun had just popped back out after a real good rain, when I headed out about 6:00 pm. It was a nice, warm 77 degrees, with some more clouds slowly moving in.

As I posted Monday, I need to get more consistent with my times. I tried that today, and I think it went pretty well. I didn't just try to maintain an easy pace to ensure myself of accomplishing that goal either. I tried to maintain a pace in which I was putting effort into the run. I wanted to be closer to the 8:16 of my last and fastest mile on Monday rather than the 9:00 mark. However, I did expect it to be closer to the 9:00 than my dream, but... Dreams do come true!

After checking my time at Mile 1, I thought, "There is no way to keep up this pace for 4 more miles" - 8:22. I was going to try, though. I was at least going to try pushing for as long as I could. I thought maybe Mile 5 would end up being 15 minutes, but the first 2 or 3 miles were to be around 8:22 - I hoped.

Mile 2 was just 1 second behind Mile 1. So far, a steady pace. Then Mile 3 came in at 8:38. I was slowing down. At this rate, Mile 5 (maybe even Mile4) would definitely be over 9:00 minutes. I had to pick up the pace. And I did, a little. Mile 4 was at 8:27. Now, for the home stretch mile, I decided I wanted to make sure I kept the entire run in a pace under 8:30. I was thinking it would be close. I had 2 miles in the low 8:20's, 1 mile close to the middle, and 1 at about 8:40. If being tired from pushing the first 4 miles slowed Mile 5 to over 8:40, I probably wouldn't make the goal. So, as I did on Monday, I pushed Mile 5 like I was running against other people. And again, as on Monday, it was my fastest mile of the run. Are you ready for this? I was shocked! I hope my GPS didn't go haywire. Mile 5 was a blazing (for me) 7:58! That really made me think that I have not been putting forth much effort lately.

My overall time was 41:48, a pace of 8:22. My fastest 5 mile pace, beating my previous personal record of 8:32 set back on October 7, 2009.

My heart rates: 170 avg; 184 max; 56 resting. Recovery 181 to 140.

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