I planned on doing three miles today, but after unwrapping gifts with the kids, my parents came over. I was getting ready for the run when they got here, so I still went out, but I cut the run down to a little over two miles.
I have not run since Sunday, and since my leg was bothering me early in the week I wanted to take the run nice and easy. My decision to slow the pace was also made easier by the wind, which was a little gusty.
My pace was just under 11:00 minutes per mile, but as I neared the two mile mark I was feeling good. I decided to run hard for a quarter mile and see what I could do.
Visions of a YouTube video popped in my head. I could see Ryan Hall smashing the half marathon record, and now I was running beside him. I pushed hard and ran as fast as I could while still keeping a semi-decent form.
I finished the last quarter mile just over an 8:00 minute pace, with a best pace of 7:05.
I do not do any specific speed work right now, because my main goal is to build mileage and endurance, but I am confident that I will someday be able to hold these paces for an entire race... perhaps even for an entire marathon.
6 years ago
8 comments:
I'm so glad to learn that I'm not the only grown-up who entertains little fantasies like that! I can't even count the number of times I've outsprinted el Gerrouj and Lagat in the last quarter of a set of 400m repeats. Sometimes, I go retro and run that last quarter against Coe and Ovett.
Without fatasizing abuot running, it would be even harder to finish some of my runs...
I remember the time I outkicked Hall to win the Boston Marathon in record time... :)
I love to fartlek. But, my fantasies aren't as vivid.
Merry (belated) Christmas to you too!
glad you were able to get out and run a bit, and nice work with the speed at the end. congrats on beating hall :)
hope you had a very merry Christmas with the family.
Thanks for stopping by my blog =)
Good luck building your base mileage, I love those runs when you're totally 'in the zone'.
Merry Christmass to you & your family
Nice! How's your leg feeling?
The leg hurts... but I think it will be fine... hopefully.
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