It is never too late to be great …

Thursday – 6 miles

• 6.03 miles, 1:03’ 57” minutes, 10’ 36” min/mile average pace,

So my plan didn’t work very well this morning. I had every intention of waking up early and doing my 6 mile run before work. The early mornings have actually been really nice outside … another sign that fall is on the way. I think that because my work had slowed down my body has gone into some sort of hibernation mode. Every morning it feels like my body is trying to get me to stay sleeping. One of these days I will win the war of waking up exactly when I want to.

Work today was pretty uneventful and I had plenty of time to stress about my 6 mile run. Because I didn’t wake up early enough to do it before work, I knew that one of two things was going to happen. If I got home early enough, I would be able to run during the sunset/twilight hours. This option also depended on how hungry I was when I got home and if my sister already had dinner ready.

My other option was the treadmill and not starting my run until after 9:30. The thought of running 6 miles on the treadmill made me very nervous because I barely finish 5miles before the machine forces me to start cooling down. I knew that I could adjust the belt pace during the cool down but then I wouldn’t have any type of cool down. I was also going to have to increase the belt pace to make it all possible. Needless to say I really wanted to run outside.

Unfortunately my hopes of running outside were quickly dashed. I left work later than I wanted and I had to get gas and stop at the grocery store on my way home. By the time I got home, my sister was already working on dinner. So with that, I decided my run was going to be on the treadmill. I really don’t mind running on the treadmill as long as the distance is 5 miles or less. Knowing I had a 6 mile run scheduled and that it was going to be on the treadmill absolutely stressed me out. Rather than enjoying my dinner, I spent the entire time trying to figure out what my pace was going to be so that I completed the distance and didn’t kill myself.

Around 9:30, I was ready for my run and headed over to the treadmill. My training program had today’s run scheduled as a 6 mile interval run. I decided that I would listen to my body and push myself as much as possible to complete the distance in less than 65 minutes. I started off at a pace faster than usual and was able to maintain it for the first mile without over exerting myself. I increased the pace in an effort to make sure that I would finish in time.

After the second mile, I started the intervals. My program had 5x3 minute intervals scheduled for today. The treadmill only does intervals in multiples of 2 minutes. I chose to do to 5x2 minute intervals with 2 minutes of easy running in between. I really pushed myself with my tempo effort tonight. I was running at a pace that I have never attempted before. I was thrilled that I managed to push myself that much.

After the intervals, I had run right about 2 more miles. I finished my run at the same pace I started. Before I hit the 6 mile mark, the treadmill tried to get me to cool down. I forced the pace to stay where it was. When my iPod didn’t start the 400 meter countdown one minute into the cool down, I started to get really worried. But there was no need for me to worry because the countdown started and I actually finished the 6 miles with a minute to spare! I was completely thrilled and really exhausted all at once!