Today was a reminder that my running is like a bad Toyota – prone to sudden, surprising acceleration. And… that’s enough bad jokes for one day.
Even though Glass City is getting closer every day, today I simply wanted to go run and enjoy the run. No pace goal, no target distance, just a fun run. I wanted to run until I was tired, no more and no less.
Unfortunately, it is still too dark and chilly to do trail running at 6:00am. So my fun run took place once again at the Rec Center track.
I’ve logged a lot of miles on that track, so I’m going to miss it when I graduate in a couple weeks. When I decided to stop smoking and drop the weight, I split my time between the local metropark and the Rec Center. Since I was living on my own at that point, I was there 3-4 days a week (even more in the winter!).
But my student ID won’t get me in once I’m no longer a law student. There are a lot of reasons for me to be happy that law school is almost over, but it will be strange to not have the Rec Center available.
(I’m going to experiment with a slightly different format for the below-the-fold portion of the post today. Let me know if you like it/don’t like it)
Pre-workout: Strawberry-Banana GU
Still on my magical, fruity GU tour. Much like the Mandarin Orange flavor, this is a name divorced from reality. Strawberry-Banana GU tastes neither like strawberry nor banana. What it does taste like is “Strawberry Banana” as used in candy and drinks and the such. Its not bad, certainly no worse than any other strawberry-banana flavored food.
Workout: “Fun” Run
Since I’m not following the Break-1:30 plan anymore, I’ve been trying to do workouts to ensure that I can at least complete Glass City. But with the weather, my IT bands, and law school all putting roadblocks in my path it has been a rough bit for a while now.
Today I just wanted to let loose and run. Typically, for this type of run I would go run through the mud and the dirt and have a great time. But it is dark and chilly still in NW Ohio, so mud running was out. Back to the track. Speed and striding will have to do in place of dirt.
So after stretching a bit, I hit the Garmin and just started running. I went out and ran at a good pushing pace, but I didn’t give a damn what the actual pace per mile was, so I ignored it. I didn’t even look at the Garmin until 7.5 miles into the run.
Surprisingly, my pace was pretty blistering for what I thought I was capable of doing. Average pace of 7:09/mile over 8 miles. Granted, this is an indoor track so there is no wind, hills, or other things that slow you down outside. But it was also a normal run with somewhat tired legs. With the adrenaline and other factors that drive PRs at races, there is a good chance sub-1:40 is within reach still. With a great race I can still imagine a sub-1:30.
Considering that a few weeks ago I wasn’t positive I would be able to complete Glass City, this pleases me greatly.