Big Decisions, Great Runs

Big decisions and great runs must go together. Drama in my personal life seems to be fuel for my running life. I overslept again this morning and missed a run, but I have been getting in some killer workouts anyway.

It's been an interesting week.

My last run was a 7-miler, and it went great. Almost no walking at all - all the muscles are getting their shit together. The cooler weather is amazing. Now that it's in the 80s I can really get into my pace and just keep rockin'. I know race pace for my half and maybe even for Philly is going to be respectable. I guess it really is true that triathlon has made me a stronger runner, because my time for the 7-miler, despite stopping during miles 1 through 3 to re-lace shoes and stopping for red lights, was about 13:30/mi.

My most recent run was last night's 6-miler. It was scheduled as a 4 but I said, "Four feels good - fuck it, what's 6?" Despite more lights and a water stop at Publix, 11:03/mile was my pace. Knew I could have gone the whole loop for 8, but one thing I'm learning quickly is that just because you CAN doesn't mean you HAVE to. I'll save the heroism for my 10-12 miler this weekend. I'm forcing myself to run without timing myself strictly - just getting back out there to see how I feel. And how do I feel? The half is going to rock my socks. NO BIG DEAL, just FUN!!!!

So, despite my recent issues with my health and despite having a hard time getting up and missing some runs in the mornings, I'm really still jammin'. The things I haven't done much of are strength train and bike. My bike still has the race number on it and is sitting in the garage. A friend keeps trying to get me to offroad with him, but our schedules don't work out. I will throw in some strength this week, but until then my power yoga is standing in for both my strength and flex work.

I also decided that I am going to get my recommendation letters and GRE scores before the end of the year. I'm going straight to my PhD. I'm not even bothering with a terminal Master's program. So that means I have to chose 100% what I want to apply to by next summer.

Upward. Onward. Inward, not outward.

2 tidbits of wizdom:

Dances with Corgis said...

Nice job heading out for the extra 2 miles tacked onto that 4! You are kicking butt :)

And red lights are annoying.

FunFitandHappy said...

Only those of us living in Florida would describe temps in the 80's as cooler weather :)

Great job on your workouts....