It was pouring when I got off work tonight. I wasn't in the mood to run anyway. So, I decided to drive home (I was at my "other" job today - an hour away from home) and see if the weather was better there. The forecast had been for widely scattered showers and thunderstorms.
It took longer than usual to get home, due to road construction, but it wasn't raining at home. Too bad, because I really wasn't in the mood to run. I felt sluggish, tired, unmotivated, whatever. But, I'm not going to run again until Sunday, so I decided to head out. I figured at worst, I'd run for 15 minutes, decide to call it a day and turn around.
The first mile felt terrible and I ran an 8:40, which is faster than I usually do my slow runs. In my head, I'd already abandoned my plan of tempo miles, and I was going to run by how I felt. But, the time for the first mile surprised me. I decided to push a bit, but run slower than tempo, and see what happened. Mile 2 was 8:15, but felt easy. Mile 3 was 7:28 and still felt easy. Then, a 7:30. Mile 5 had 3 climbs - one of them significant - and I did an 8:35. Then, another 7:30.
By the time I finished my 7.2 mile loop, I'd averaged a 7:55 pace. Not bad for a fat, old gimpy guy training for an ultra. Fifteen years ago, I could sleepwalk through a 7 miler at that speed, but I was primarily a (much younger) road racer then.
I think I am going to bail on lifting tomorrow morning though. I want the extra sleep and I don't think I need the lifting workout any more at this point in time.
1 comment:
Nice going. It's a good sign when you come to life after a sluggish start. Western States, lookout!
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