Season-Appropriate Running

After taking a week off from running, my legs felt a little rusty when I went out for my running yesterday. Typically I would go for a long run (that is, anything over 6 miles) on the weekend but I thought I'd take it easy after my little break.

However, I have to admit, I've been battling these thoughts that a short run isn't even worth it. Somehow I got it into my head that anything shorter than 5 miles is pointless for me to do.

So, my original plan yesterday was do to either 3.1 or 6.2 miles (preferably the 6.2). The Livejournal Runner's Community was hosting a virtual race for both of those distances. I figured I'd head out and see how I felt and then make my decision about distance.

The first half mile? Painful! My right hip hurt, my head felt heavy, and my heart was pounding. I could definitely tell that I'd taken a week off. I'm sure it didn't help that I'd woken up fairly dehydrated. Or that I'd made a rookie mistake and gone out too fast.

After that first half mile, though, I felt great. I decided to try a new route and see where it took me in terms of mileage. So, I crossed a street and went an entirely new direction.

And ended up in the graveyard pictured above.

I like graveyards. I think they are beautiful and peaceful. So, instead of being creeped out or scared, I enjoyed running alongside the gleaming headstones and admiring the fall leaves on the trees. I stopped to take a few more photos shortly after I hit the two mile mark.






After that, though, I felt horrible. I tried to pick the pace back up but it felt like a struggle. My head was pounding and I literally staggered the last few feet of my run. I didn't even make it to the 4 mile mark! I did, however, remember to glance at my watch at the 5K point (28:21, not including the stop for photography) so that I'd have a time to report for the virtual race.

I'm not sure what happened. Maybe I picked something up in the graveyard ;-) It is that time of year, after all!

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Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 620 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/25/09 Up/Downhill: [+9/-9] Time: 11:06 AM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   57 F temp; 57% humidity   57 F heat index; winds S 16 G 23 Performance Distance: 3.39 miles Time: 0:32:34 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 36 /mi Calories: 401 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 54 -0' 42 6.7 +0.5 +3 ft 2 9' 15 -0' 21 6.5 +0.2 -3 ft 3 10' 09 +0' 33 5.9 -0.3 0 ft end 12' 49 +3' 13 4.7 -1.6 0 ft Versus average of 9' 36 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com