Friday, July 24, 2009

What a Strange Run

I missed yesterday's run. On the schedule was a 13 miler. Sitting in traffic on the freeway at 7:30 in the evening pretty much put the kibosh on that though.

So, I mashed my schedule around for the remainder of this week. I did have 13 miles on Thursday, 20 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. I moved things around so that I have 9 miles Friday morning, 20 on Saturday, and then 9 on Sunday. Bottom line miles remains the same - I'm just messing with the order.

With this new schedule in hand, I headed out for my nine miles this morning. This was a run that has to go down in my diary of strange runs. First off, I had to get myself out of bed at 4:30 after not getting to bed until midnight last night. Then, I had to break out the headlamp and rear blinkers. I started at 5AM and it was *dark*. I started off down the street toward Crystal Cove. Everything felt fine. Breathing was normal. Heart rate was on the low end of aerobic range. I felt comfortable. I felt like I was moving along pretty well. I made it to the halfway point and checked my pace. Now, I don't expect this route to be particularly speedy - hills, streets and the like make it a little tougher than a simple flat run. But I was shocked when I looked down and saw 10:30. WTF?!?! It sure felt like I was moving faster than that!

Well, I guess it wasn't pretty, but I finished the run. Average pace of 10:37 and average heart rate of 75% of max. I'm sitting here now with some very sore legs and a really fatigued body. Time to suck it up though! 20 miles tomorrow!

9 comments:

  1. Glenn, those runs happen to all of us. :) Nice job on getting up at 5 am and getting out there!

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  2. 4:30? Wow. I'd never do that, not after a late night...and not if I was planning on doing 20 the next day. You are hard core.

    Also...re: your last post about being behind...I hear ya. Its been a crazy week for me too!

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  3. Life happens, even if we are stuck in traffic... Still, you have a pretty good foundation set already.

    Isn't it weird when your own perception of speed is skewed, especially when you feel like you're going faster than you are? I like it when it's skewed in the other direction, though, when I'm feeling slow but I'm going fast. :)

    Have a great running weekend!

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  4. All my runs this week felt faster than what I was actually going. It's frustrating to feel like we're working so hard and then read a time that might not be what we want to see. I think we've all been there! At least you pulled through and finished! Keep it up with the mileage, you're doing great.

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  5. you are a TROOPER. seriously!! good luck on that 20 miler tomorrow :)

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  6. that was an early run on not a lot of sleep! at least you were out there running - it helped train your mind and legs to run at the jabooty crack of dawn like race day! of course hopefully you'll go to bed sooner on race-day-eve.

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  7. Glenn- I'll be thinking of you running those 20 miles today! (while I sit in the airconditioning no less... here in HOT Florida!!)

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  8. I hate to say it but you made me think i need a headlight for winter because it will be so dark out. There should be some special morning runner website with good stuff somewhere right??

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  9. Hey! I just found your blog-- I can totally relate to this entry. It definitely has to do with waking up very early and being *very* tired. Days when I wake up that early and feel great are small miracles!

    You pushed through and the miles are on the paper, so that's what counts.

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