A story of going from being a non-runner to planning for a marathon in three years...

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pete Repeat

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Originally my training plan had me scheduled for 8 miles last night. Those 8 miles were supposed to include a warm-up, 3x1600 @ 8:31 w/800 jogs, and a cool down. For various reasons I decided to stick to 5.5 miles instead of doing the full 8. I set up an interval workout on my Garmin so it would beep and tell me when to speed up and slow down.

I showed up early to the group run because I'd gotten an email that an area chiropractor's office was going to be doing short assessments and adjustments before our run. Turns out they were doing quick posture checks and foot scans. According to the women who checked me out I bear more weight on my right side, my right hip and shoulder are higher than my left, and my outside "arches" have fallen on my feet. It all sounded rather mumbo-jumbo-y to me. Besides, if I was really going to go to a chiropractor I'd go to my brother-in-law. At least I trust him not to fleece me!

My running buddy Anne and I headed out and she said she'd stick with me through my intervals even though she'd just run 16 miles the day before. We started running and eventually I looked at my Garmin and realized we'd already gone .8 miles. I was only planning to do a half mile warm up! It was then that I realized I'd forgotten to hit the "Do Workout" option and had just pressed the regular "Start" button! Well crud.

So, I did a mile warm-up and then started my mile repeats. Mile repeat 1? 8:25. Okay, a little too fast. We were happy when it was time to jog. Mile repeat 2? Not sure. I always forget that you can hit the "Lap" button to get the Garmin to record an off-set time. Mile repeat 3? 8:38. Okay, a little slow. But still close. Overall, even with the warm-up and the jogs I did all 5.5 miles at an 8:51 pace. Yeah, I think I did alright.

I had to wear my glasses during tonight's run. When I went to take my one and only pair of contacts out of my eyes on Sunday night the right one ripped in half. Argh! So now I'm stuck in my glasses until the contacts I ordered come in. Thankfully my glasses don't bounce. They do, however, steam up when I stop running. Guess I can't stop!


Interesting fact: My glasses are Nintendo brand


I was originally dreading this run. I expected to be doing it all alone while the rest of the running group surged on ahead. I wasn't looking forward to running with my glasses yet I knew I wouldn't see well enough without them. I wasn't feeling up to the speeds even though I totally proved two weekends ago that I can run 3 miles at that pace. But, thankfully, it ended up being a great run. Even my now-blistering burn didn't bother me. Granted, I think that was due to the gauze and medical tape I plastered over it but still.

So, yeah, mile repeats. You've been pwned.

And then I came home and made chicken stir fry, rice, and egg rolls and had dinner on the table by 8:15 PM. I rock.

6 comments:

kristen said...

You totally rock! Nice job on the 3 x 1600!

Anonymous said...

There's something about "mile repeats" that just sounds bad ass. :-) Great job on the run!

oh, Chiropractors. I know they give all chiros a bad name, but I've heard SO many things from them - and they all want one thing: to see me 3 x's a week for a month, then 2 x's, etc. Basically, I feel like they just want $! That is great your BIL is one. At least you have someone you can trust!

kilax said...

I am happy it went so well! Despite the Garmin mess-up. Those things are tricky little bastards. I think ours does much more than I will ever know...

Have you started thinking about your goal for the next 5K? Or are you going to wait a few weeks? I bet you can at least shave 20 seconds off your last time!

Ha! Don't even get me started on chiropractors ;)

lifestudent said...

I had that happen once, where I had a contact rip and had no backups. It was horrible! Now I wear disposables and always have a backup. Makes life a whole lot easier :)

Bayjb said...

Oh I know the fogging of glasses when working out. Bummer about the contacts! I hate that feeling when they tear. Hope your new ones arrive soon!

Anonymous said...

I see you're planning on doing Chicago. Good for you! I have a friend who's doing it this year too. My brother did it around 2003. It's a great race. A LOT of people to cheer you on!

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