Friday, April 13, 2007

Another Good Run Today

Although my cold is not completely cleared, it has not progressed beyond a head cold, so I decided to get up early for my run. Early, because the forecast called for 85 degrees today (yes, it is very warm and sunny here - I wish I could send 10 or 15 degrees up north for those of you dealing with the cold weather). I wanted to run while it was still cool and I had a busy day ahead.

So I rolled out of bed around 6:20 am. This was significant since yesterday I could hardly get myself out of bed at 7:30 am. But today, I felt "normal" about getting up (normal means that given the choice I would like to sleep in, but it wasn't too hard to get up...if you know what I mean). Anyway, the temperature was about 52 degrees and the sun was just making its way up.

I set off for a 3 to 4 mile run. I felt great and the temperature made the run easy. I felt so good I almost went for 5 miles, but made my turn for a 4.5 mile run to save a little time. I ran the entire distance without walking breaks and mostly in my aerobic zone:

Mile 1: 11:24
Mile 2: 11:29
Mile 3: 11:33
Mile 4: 11:06
Mile 4.5: 5:41

Total: 4.54 miles, 51:14 min
Avg pace 11:17 min/mile
Avg heart rate: 158 bpm

This is a good sign! One of my goals this year is to get my marathon time under 5 hours. That would be an 11:27 min/mile pace. I am on my way to that goal. Practicing my running at an aerobic pace seems to be paying off by extending the time I can keep my heart rate in the aerobic zone. As I shed the cold and my foot continues to improve, I am hoping to do more tempo runs and some speed work. The other goal this year is a sub-30 min 5K.

What a great way to start the day!! After that things went downhill, or so it seemed. I had to turn around half a mile down the road on my way to work because I forgot something, then arriving at work realizing I left my computer home.

I don't know about you, but I can practically do nothing without my computer. After such a great run, it seemed odd that I could be so forgetful. I attended a few meetings and just decided to head home and work from there for the rest of the afternoon (perhaps this was not such a bad deal afterall).

It's off to see the younger daughter's soccer game this evening, followed by some more time with visiting family from NY.

Best wishes to Irish Blue for a great race tomorrow!!!! She is going to rock that 13.1 mile course. A little cool weather can't stop her!! Maddy and I will send up some warmer weather :-)

5 comments:

Maddy said...

What a nice run this morning! The weather has been awesome the past few days!

And no walking breaks :: Cool!

Susan said...

I see you have been "tim'd" as well...

Look at you, Miss Speedy Runner! I am proud. I know you can do a 5:00 marathon. And I can't wait to root you on!

I, too, would be useless at work without my computer!

Cory said...

Glad to hear you are feeling better. Great job on the aerobic work!

ShirleyPerly said...

Hope you're rid of that cold by now. Just wanted to say 'hi' and wish your team good luck at the Corp 5K on Thursday. Looks to be good weather this year -- yay!

Irish Blue said...

85 degrees? So not fair!

Thank you for the shout-out on my race. It was a blast!

I've gotten to work and forgotten my computer too, and I'm a programmer!!