Day 116, 249 To Go

April 26, 2013

I love Friday, but only half as much as I hate Monday...but still, it ranks high on my list of days.  I'd say number 3 with Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd.  The rest are all tied for 4th with Monday being last at 7.

So, for my 3rd favorite day of the week, I decided to go fast!  I didn't decide that until I was actually running, but it must have been the freedom I felt from another hard week at work.  I was feeling really free because I recorded my fasted time yet!

My first five minutes were actually kind of slow, so if I had been feeling good from the get go, I would have done even better.  In either case, it was hard work.  I was panting and spitting and panting some more.  I was listening to something, I don't even know anymore, and I had to take the headphones out of my ears because it was just becoming annoying.  Not only was the song playing too slow, the music was just a distraction.  When you are pushing that hard, any external stimuli can be a distraction.

I ran just shy of 2.75 miles in my 20 minutes for a pace of 7:19, but I was doing sub 7min miles for the last .74 miles of the run.  That is when I was really killing myself.

I love these runs the best, especially when I feel up to it.  I wish I could run like this EVERY day!  It would make the 20 minutes go by faster.  I know I am still running 20 minutes, but still, it makes the 20 minutes more interesting.

Here are my numbers:

Time: 20:00

Distance: 2.74 miles

Pace: 7:19/m

Max Pace: 5:54/m

Calories: 352

Avg HR: 153

Max HR: 173

I didn't get that 173 in my heart rate until the end.  I think I was approaching my limit.  I could probably have held out for another quarter mile or so, and then I would have passed out!  I kind of ran today like I was running a 5k which may not be the best way to train, but it sure was fun.  Extrapolating my pace out to a full 5k would have given me a 22:43 time.  Not by best by about 2 minutes, but a time I would be happy with now.  It may even have been faster since I was pacing about 6:50 in the last mile, so maybe a 22:20.

Perhaps I should enter a 5k in the near future.  I'll have to think about that...

Run for Life!