I realized this morning that I consider anything over 3 miles as a long run, and I would like to change that perception. I want to feel like 4 or 5 miles is nothing. In order to start working on this goal, I suddenly decided after work that I was going to run 5 miles today at the gym. I didn’t want to overthink it or give myself any time to worry about it. I just wanted to do it.
My plan was to run the first mile at 6.0 (10:00 pace), next three miles at 6.5 (9:13 pace) and the final mile at 6.0 (10:00 pace). The goal wasn’t to be super speedy, but I did want to increase my pace a bit in the middle of the run.
I started out feeling OK, but I was nervous about how my butt (sorry, awkward!) was going to feel after Sunday’s run. For the first couple of miles, it didn’t quite hurt but it felt uncomfortable. Thankfully that subsided over time, and it made me really happy that I took yesterday off.
Honestly, my biggest problem during the run was my energy. As much as I wanted to continue the 9:13 pace for the fourth mile, I knew that it wasn’t worth trying. I wanted to make sure that I finished the 5 miles, and I was afraid that I might stop if I continued at that speed. With that in mind, I took it back down to 10:00 for the final 2 miles. I was so happy when I was done!
I used to only want to run on the treadmill but now I love the ease of running outside. It allows you such better control over your speed. I’m not going to constantly change my pace on the treadmill, but outside, I do what feels good at the moment. Over time, I’m sure that I’ll do better with my “longer” runs on the treadmill.
After my run, I spent an extra long time stretching and it felt great. I used to never stretch, so I’m trying to focus on this more. Then, I did a quick ab workout and push-ups (3 sets of 15).
I love that Megan includes goals for the week in her Monday posts! She asked me what mine, so I think that I’m going to jump on the bandwagon.
Goals for This Week:
- Drink more water. I am honestly so bad about remembering to stay hydrated. This week I want to make sure that I drink water with breakfast, lunch and dinner. I know that this sounds simple, but I often forget to include water with my meals.
- Go to the gym five times this week. Normally I go to the gym six times a week, so at first glance, this doesn’t sound like much of a goal. However, I already took yesterday off to give myself a much-needed break, and I’m going to be traveling for work this weekend. This means that I’m going to need to go to the gym in the morning several times this week. I don’t love it, but I think that I can do it!
- Eat decently healthy while working this weekend. This is a challenge for many reasons, but now that I’ve put it out there on the blog, I think that I will hold myself more accountable. We’ll see how it goes!
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