Aug 25, 2008

Did running just become... dare I even say it?

Did running just become fun and.... gulp... enjoyable again?

I do belive that it has!

Today's schedule was for 3 miles at a 12:47 pace, I completed 5 at a 12:32 pace. I have decided to really work on taking it easy on the easy runs. That is a lot harder than I had imagined! I am a two speed girl - run and stop. I am getting closer to taking longer runs at a truly easy pace. And for fun, during some of the miles I kicked it up a notch just to see what happened. What happened is that I ran faster, but did not get tired. The numbers for today are here.

You know that you are enjoying something when you cannot wait to get out for the run. I decided after fooling around with the Smartcoach (TM) on Runner's World online that I really want a good solid running base for my Half Marathons. I don't purely want to finish. I want to finish STRONG. I want to be able to say - "wow that was fun!"

I do think that is possible.

So with that I am upping my weekly mileage, and my short run will be 5 miles per the plan. Occasionally I have a 4 miler in there (down weeks, etc.), and on my own I may do a few 2 to 3 mile shorties for fun, but I feel strong and am ready to take my running to the next level both mentally and physically.

To that end, in my world there have been two personal truths that held for running.

1 - I can call myself a runner if I ran 10 minute miles (sub 11's to be more technical).
2 - I can call myself a serious runner when going out for a 5 mile run is fun and easy to me.

For some reason, 5 miles is the magic number. Odd.

Well both of those two things have happened this year. The pace is coming along, although now I am focusing on endurance not speed. But the distance is coming along much quicker than I thought as well! Today personal truth #2 happened.

Today's 5 miler seemed both fun and relaxing. Never once had I thought, "oh jeez when will this end?" I enjoyed it. Could this be my new base?

Amen for strength. Amen for ability. And amen for being able to do slow for miles.

})i({RunnerGirl - Remember - The road belongs not to the swift, but to those who keep running!

5 comments:

L*I*S*A said...

5 has always been my minimal mileage amount. I'm not sure why, but it just has been that way for three years now!

I'm happy to hear that your miles are so enjoyable. To me, that's what makes you a runner!!

Doug said...

Wait, 12:47????? Who sets/picked that pace? Why not 12:45 or 13:00?????? 12:47, just seems odd, weird, yeah this is an invalid parameter:

http://www.ridhughz.demon.co.uk/wav/9000gig.wav

Yeah, it does not compute:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Does_not_compute

Jenniferlyn said...

The 12:47 is calculated from Runner's World Smartcoach (tm). It uses some pretty complicated algorythms to determine what pace you should run each workout (tempo, easy, speedwork, long) to get you to your time goals. I really am trying for a 2:30 half marathon, so apparently this is what I need to do to get there. Although, quite honestly, I will be happy sub 2:40!

L*I*S*A said...

Oh, I think you'll shatter your goal of 2:30, my friend. :)

Pope Corky IX said...

Just wanted to stop and say what an inspiration you are to me! I am a MI girl, athena and first time triathlete this season too. I signed up for the detroit half as well and will be running my first marathon in January-