Wow - what a gorgeous day! Today's high was in the 60's and it was in the upper 50's and sunny when I ran outside at 4:30pm. I ran in shorts and a t-shirt. Hooray!
I was at OSU while the kids were at swim practice, so I had to run in the urban environment, but I found some a couple decent mile loops and did those with my speed workout.
If you just look at my total time and distance, today's run looks like it was brutal: 5 miles in 57:26. However, it was all according to plan. I ran 1 mile splits with a slow, fast, slow, fast, slow pattern. The focus was on the fast miles which were both sub-9 minute miles (8:58 and 8:48). The other three miles were just warm up, recovery, and cool down. It was tough, but I was able to totally ignore the Garmin during the slow segments and I fought off the "need for speed" urge and listened to my body when it wanted to walk or even stop completely to stretch.
The run was actually pretty fun and seemed like 2 miles instead of 5. And for some reason, I was confused after the second fast run and thought I still had another fast one to do. Then as I ran slowly and came back into the rational world, I realized that I didn't have to do another fast mile and that I was already 25% done with the cool down mile. What a celebration that was in my brain!
I'm amazed how great it is to be running again outside. I thought the inside track would be easier because it's flat and a controlled environment. I guess the boredom factor plays a big part though. I'm having much more fun outside. I think I enjoy a change-up every so often. I get bored with the same routes, workouts, environments, etc. and need to find something new to get my groove going. I'm also listening to music now while running and have kept up with podcasts while in the car instead.
I used my new Lymphedema glove while running today and it was so much better than the old one. I hate the color, though. It's supposed to be gray. In the sunshine today, it was lavender. Color me purple.
Great run Kelly. You are so right, when you can get outside for a blast of warmer weather after indoor training it feels great! As you get closer to Poco Loco and connect with those friends more, it may also help with the excitement of meeting new people and the expertise they can share.
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