Tuesday: 6.1 Miles (51:24)
68 Degrees, you might as well call it a cold front based on the weather that we have had recently. The weather, accompanied with the stillness of the trail was exactly what I needed to begin the second week of training. My warm-up this morning was short, less than a half mile, but I was already wired and ready to get started. I began the route just before sunrise, but it was evident that the sun was rising as 15 minutes into my run, the air quickly became dense and it seemed as if I was running through watery mist that was clearly not from a sprinkler. Regardless, my goal was to remain between an 8:30 to 8:45 pace and run negative splits. Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 8:58
Mile 2: 8:32
Mile 3: 8:28
Mile 4: 8:23
Mile 5: 8:20
Mile 6: 7:59
Overall Time: 51:24 & 8:25 Pace
Quote of the Day:
"In order to accomplish milestones, get rid of distractions." ~Eric Thomas
Wednesday: 4.0 Miles (33:15)
After successfully running negative splits yesterday, my goal was to again replicate this and attempt to push myself a bit harder than yesterday. The struggle that has already began to appear in my training is my desire to push myself to new thresholds of pain, even in the smaller runs that I am doing. I constantly have to remind myself that this is not a sprint but a marathon, no pun intended. The first mile was slower, as usual, but I found myself each mile almost slowing my pace towards the end because I continued to speed up at the end of each mile. The breakdown below shows the splits and looking at them now, I clearly pushed too hard, or maybe I didn’t, but the gaps between miles was a little excessive. This is definitely a question I will be asking my running group to gage how they decide to run as I am still sorting this out in my own mind.
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 8:56
Mile 2: 8:12
Mile 3: 8:07
Mile 4: 7:54
Overall Time: 33:12 & 8:17 Pace
Quote of the Day:
"The real battle is taking place in our mind. What we are dwelling on all day is what we will attract. ~Joel Osteen
Thursday: 2.1 Miles (14:35)
A 6 minute pace. For some, this would seem like a normal “jog” or typical day, but I had made up my mind, thanks to Stephanie and Mark to not do speed work, but spend my Thursday’s doing tempo runs. Rather than a 2 mile speed workout, I decided to tempo run. Of course, I did this on the treadmill to regulate my speed. I started with a light jog for about 10 minutes to loosen up my legs and mentally prepare. After stretching I told myself that I would run my distance beginning at a 7:45 pace, but increasing the speed until I was slightly uncomfortable. 1 Pt. Stubbornness… I averaged a 6:56 pace. Never, ever, have I been able to run at this speed and never have I seen the treadmill hit 11.0. (I didn’t know it went past 10, so good information to have. :) ) What I learned from this, I have more in the tank that I am allowing myself to release with each run, though I know I will not realistically be running marathon at this pace, I have the ability to reach down and push myself, I just did it and when I finished, it was invigorating, my runner's high for the rest of the morning put me on Cloud Nine for the day!
Quote of the Day:
"Don’t pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
~Bruce Lee
Friday: 3.1 Miles (25:49)
With the Firecracker 5k coming up tomorrow, I decided that I would run the course, which I have ran more times than I care to say, to mentally adjust for the race. I didn’t really care much about my pace today, but instead focused on my breathing and almost mentally running the course thinking of how I would attack each portion of the race. (Which didn’t take long, it was a 5k) I spent some time also reflecting over my journey up to this point. A song played today, Eric Church’s, Record Year, and it made really think about what I had accomplished up to this point in the year.
I have done a lot of soul searching this year and spent a significant amount of time trying to really find myself. Am I there yet, no, and I don't have an ETA either. Here is what I do know, running has been my outlet. I have learned to decompartmentalize my thinking and train my brain to begin to think different about various aspects of my own life that I have not been satisfied with. When I am running solo, I spend a my time not only listening to my body, but also reconstructing my own thinking. At a leadership conference I attended we were asked if our school culture “restructured” or “recultured” their thinking. This was very thought provoking as I also asked myself this question and realized that in certain aspects of my life, I simply was restructuring my life, rather than reculturing my life. The patterns were evident. So this year, I have found myself reculturing my own thinking. This chapter will be different as the future chapters. Running has allowed me to realize this and without going to much into detail I have love where I am going and have intentions of ever looking back.
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 8:44
Mile 2: 8:17
Mile 3: 7:56
Overall Time: 25:49 & 8:19 Pace
Quote of the Day:
"The truth is that your finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling the most uncomfortable."
Saturday: 3.2 Miles (21:56)
As I checked the weather and by checked the weather I looked outside, it was raining like cats and dogs. Now for some, running in the rain isn’t something they look forward too. But when you have a big body benz like myself, (big guy joke) the rain becomes an extra coolant that only helps me push myself harder. The rain, coupled with my positive mindset gave me all the fuel I needed for my race. I am proud to say that I broke my PR. My old record was 22:23 and I had just sat that earlier this year at the Independence 5k. This race, though I wasn’t happy with my splits, allowed me to really open it up and see what I could do. When I took off I told myself I was either going to break my PR or pull something trying. My old PR pace was 7:12, now with a 7:05 pace I am already thinking of a new goal, break into the 6 min miles at my next 5k, stay tuned. :)
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 6:48
Mile 2: 7:10
Mile 3: 7:13
Overall Time: 21:56 & 7:05 Pace
Quote of the Day:
"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
Sunday: 8.1 Miles (1:10:23)
Unfortunately the rain held off for the run this morning. As I said last week, I always enjoy getting up on Sunday mornings knowing that I can run with group from the Wellness Running Store in Lee's Summit. They are amazing people and have become a network that I have found I closely connect with. You won’t find anyone in this group that takes themselves too seriously. They are passionate about running, but manage to incorporate as much laughter and light hearted comedy in while we run. Today, I was able to run with the usual suspects, Mark and Stephanie and Kent and Chuck also ran with us for the last half of the run. We talked about various topics but I was pleasantly surprised to see my splits afterwards. The route today was not flat, but in the last half of the run, while talking the entire time, we maintained a pace that I know I can maintain for my marathon. As the miles continue to pile up, I am already envisioning my myself running in Baltimore in October. Though I won’t have the group to talk to during this time, knowing that I can maintain this pace while having lengthy conversations only continues to prove that this group was exactly what I needed to meet my goals. It’s funny, an individual sport in nature, but surround yourself with others that are just as passionate as you and results will come.
Below is the breakdown of my splits for each mile:
Mile 1: 9:16
Mile 2: 8:44
Mile 3: 9:05
Mile 4: 8:31
Mile 5: 8:31
Mile 6: 8:26
Mile 7: 8:43
Mile 8: 8:30
Overall Time: 1:10:23 & 8:43 Pace
Quote of the Day:
"If the miles behind me could be put into images, you would see my efforts, my struggles, my desires, my spirit. And most of all you will see my joy."
Final Thoughts:
With 26.6 miles logged this week, I have accumulated a total of 57.1 miles in two weeks. My biggest accomplishment this week had to be breaking my 5k PR, but in the process realizing that I have more to left within that I have to continue to identify how to get out. As the mileage increases this next week, I am excited to see how my body will react. I have already eclipsed the 500 mile mark this year, (535 miles YTD) and I am excited to see if I can break into the 1,000 mile club by the end of the summer.
With 4th of July coming quickly, I am also excited to run with a friend of mine, Jennifer on the 4th of July. We will be running a 5k together and I will be pacing her, though I don’t know if it really counts since it is only a 5k. She has already put limitations on her run saying that she wants to finish between 30 - 35 minutes. I am excited to see what she can do and have the opportunity to help her during the run. I know that we can finish in 30 minutes, if not sooner. Thinking about this along with listening to others speak about pacing races, I would like to eventually become a pacer myself. Listening to my group talk about pacing and the feelings that go along with pushing others, it is definitely something that I want to pursue after I figure out how to properly pace myself. The reward of seeing others achieve their goal and being able to be apart of it is very alluring and ultimately I want to be apart of others successes as I know I am where I am today because of others commitment to me and my pursuit of my goals.
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