Perspective

It’s amazing how much perspective a long run over the weekend can give you for the shorter training runs during the week.

I ran 10 miles on Sunday (we were out of town on Saturday, so I had to flip-flop my Saturday/Sunday workouts) and it felt amazing- until I stopped.  My legs felt like they were going to fall off.  I felt awesome the whole time I was running- I really liked the route I took and the weather was great.  But let me tell you- after running an hour and 45 minutes with no walking breaks (and I’ll tell you right now that I’m all for walking breaks if you feel the need- I was just on a roll on Saturday so I kept pushing through), the feeling I had when I stopped was AWFUL.  Who would have thought that continuing to run would be less painful than stopping?!  Anyway, I immediately went inside the house and leashed Colby, our crazy puppy, and took him along for a cool-down walk.  I knew that it would be better to give my legs some time to cool down on a walk rather than collapsing in a heap at home.  Colby and I always take the same route on our walks, and I won’t lie and say that the 1.5 mile route felt good to walk after the long run, but it made my legs feel slightly better.  And Colby appreciated it, even if he had to drag aching body the whole way.

Monday was a rest day (thank goodness!) and it gave my body some time to recover.  My knees had been feeling achy after the long run, so I was a little worried that my 3 mile run today might just make it worse.  But I also thought that after the long weekend run, 3 miles sounded like a breeze!

I got up this morning, laced up my shoes and hit the pavement.

Wow.  I felt AMAZING.  My knees felt good and my legs were hungry for more running.  I pretty much always stick to a 10 minute per mile pace no matter how far I’m running- that’s just what my body seems most comfortable with.  Not this morning.  This morning my body said, “Ha! 3 miles? That’s all you’re going to give me today?  Well in that case...” And I ramped up my pace right from the start.  I didn’t consciously do this, I just listened to my body and my legs responded accordingly.

I’ll keep it real here- I felt like I was losing a little bit of my steam during my last mile, but by that time the end was (symbolically speaking) in sight and I was still feeling great.  I rarely check my pace while in the midst of a run, so I was excited to see how I ended up since it had felt so phenomenal.

26 minutes.  8 and a half minute miles.  FOUR MINUTES FASTER THAN MY USUAL PACE.

Whoa.