A Tale of Three Runs

So, I had a horrendous run last week, which I detailed in my last post. However, it did got me thinking about those too-fast starts I keep talking about so I think its time I did something about it. On Tuesday, I went for a run, extremely mindful of the first mile and making sure I didn't go under 15 minutes per mile. It was hard. When you begin a run, you have all this energy and you swear to yourself that you are going slow when actually you are channeling Meb Keflezighi. This is all relative of course. I mean, if 14 minute miles were any slower I would be going back in time but it makes a difference. So did it make a difference? Let's ask my friend Garmin. Here is the Epic Fail Run:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:39:16.1	6.00	16:32
1	14:23.1	1.00	14:23
2	15:48.6	1.00	15:49
3	16:30.4	1.00	16:30
4	17:29.3	1.00	17:29
5	17:41.2	1.00	17:41
6	17:22.0	1.00	17:22
7	:01.5	0.00	17:40

So you see that first mile, me channeling Meb. Then by mile two, I'm already feeling it was not gonna work but I try to keep up the pace ( Meb had long left the building by then). The third mile I'm just thinking I can keep it up but I'm really just running at my normal pace (around the 16's) and then it just completely falls apart, including a totally dismal 17:41 in mile 4. But here are the 5 miles I did Tuesday:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:18:52.0	5.00	15:46
1	15:50.1	1.00	15:50
2	15:34.7	1.00	15:35
3	16:03.5	1.00	16:03
4	15:43.3	1.00	15:43
5	15:37.9	1.00	15:38
6	:02.7	0.00	12:53

Now that's more like it! I was very careful to take it easy in the first mile and the result was that by mile two I was feeling great. With the exception of one little hiccup I managed to stay in the 15's the entire time. New territory for me. But it was on my latest long run this Sunday where I really surprised myself. I was invited once again to run with some friends at this great linear park I mentioned a while back.

I made it very clear that I'm a turtle and they should just go ahead and do their thing. Two of the guys run 5K's in the low twenties so I had no delusions of keeping up. We warmed up, stretched and took off.  Sure enough, they started leaving me behind. I was mindful of my new "start slow" mantra but when I checked the Garmin I was up to my old tricks. But a funny thing happened. When I start too fast or when I'm going faster than usual, I can feel it. It's a general sense of discomfort in my legs that lets me know I'm biting more than I can chew. As I tried to adjust my speed, I noticed I wasn't feeling anything of the sort. I was feeling pretty good actually. As my friends faded away in front of me I soldiered on, a bit faster than usual but careful.

Two miles in, I had found a nice groove and noticed one of the runners in our group was falling behind. I was gonna pass someone! Yay! By mile three we were at the beach and it was time to head back. I just couldn't believe I was feeling so good but I kept at it. It wasn't until the very end that I ran out of steam but by then, it was almost over.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:31:11.8	6.00	15:12
1	14:08.9	1.00	14:09
2	14:59.4	1.00	14:59
3	15:17.6	1.00	15:18
4	15:40.5	1.00	15:41
5	15:19.6	1.00	15:20
6	15:44.2	1.00	15:44
7	:01.6	0.00	16:46

Can you believe these numbers?! Wow, I'm so happy. Of course, the course made all the difference. It's flat as a pancake so I had no hills to worry about and it made for a consistent pace. The fact that I managed to run the 5th mile in 15:19 is incredible to me. Flat course or not, I give myself a little credit here. As I mentioned in a previous post, I wrote 1:50:00 as a finish goal on the entry form for my upcoming 10K, secretly hoping for a 1:40:00 and here I am, 3 weeks from the race with a 1:31:00. If I come even close to that on race day I will be so happy! Here is are some parting shots of that last long run. The Coquí Runners, to whom I'm grateful for inviting me and the beautiful park which I love.

Bike lane on the left, runners on the right, a whole bunch of trees and the river. It's an awesome place to run.

Coquí Runners. The running team that invited me. Thanks guys!