Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Day 4: Early bird

One thing I've learned over the course of my running "career" is that the best way for me to guarantee the run is going to happen is to get it over with in the morning.

I've probably mentioned before but I am not naturally a morning person - for most of my life I've loved sleeping in. Since I moved, this changed a bit - I'll give most of the credit to not wanting to stay in bed with such nice weather, less drinking and more reasonable bed-times.  I also started using the Sleep Cycle app - it wakes you up within a window (of your choosing) at a time when it can sense you're already stirring. It seems to wake me up feeling less draggy, even when it gives me a poor sleep score.

In any case - at least while its dark when I get home from work - I decided to get up no later than 6:30 for my runs. According to the app I was up at 6:27, probably out the door by 6:40. The temp is pretty much perfect for running at this time of the morning - a tiny bit chilly, good for a light long-sleeved shirt  but not too chilly for shorts. I headed out onto the bike path running north, then looped back in to boardwalk to head back south.

The run was feeling pretty crappy and I realized I was probably going a bit too fast. I stuck with it, picking a landmark ahead and focusing on getting to that pole or house until I got to the end of the run. I was glad I made it but I was waaaay too winded.

Sure enough, when I went back and did the math, I laughed - I was running 10m25s miles which even for short runs is way too "fast" for my out-of-shape-self.  Need to be closer to 11 minute miles at least for now.


today's run:  2.3 miles
season mileage to date: 6.7 miles




No comments: