Every notice that you're just slogging along at your usual pokey pace, and then one day you have that workout that's just WOW! so awesome and you realize the hard work actually has a payoff?
I had one of those last night. It's weird how, when it happens, I don't have a clue that I'm about to have one of the best workouts EVAR. In fact, I was being such a lazy butt that I made the decision to put off my morning run on the pretext that, really, I should run at night because, you know, I'll be running at night at Ironman CDA...yeah, whatever.
So anyway. My run was 6 miles, and had about 1200 feet of climbing in it. I took off at sunset and it started out pretty normal - I slogged it up the first upgrade at my usual blistering 12 or 13-minute mile pace, and then headed downhill for a ways, and then turned into a long 2-mile uphill.
Then, for some reason, I was actually running up the hill instead of shuffle-jogging it. I was also doing something I rarely do: breathing big and deep from my belly.
I kept waiting for my legs to get tired. They didn't. I kept waiting for my breathing to become labored. It didn't. You know, I don't think I've been breathing right. I think I've been breathing too shallow from my chest because I worry so much about not getting enough air--does this make sense?
When I got to the top of the hill I looked down at my watch and it said that my average pace was about 11:15 for the 3 miles I'd run so far. I stopped for a few seconds to drink, then decided to do sprints all the way back. I would walk fast for a minute and then sprint for a minute. When I got back, my overall average pace for the whole 6 miles was 11:42. And that, for me folks, is supersonic. I've never done a training run that fast in my whole LIFE. I kept staring at the Garmin, thinking it was malfunctioning.
When I got to the top of the hill I looked down at my watch and it said that my average pace was about 11:15 for the 3 miles I'd run so far. I stopped for a few seconds to drink, then decided to do sprints all the way back. I would walk fast for a minute and then sprint for a minute. When I got back, my overall average pace for the whole 6 miles was 11:42. And that, for me folks, is supersonic. I've never done a training run that fast in my whole LIFE. I kept staring at the Garmin, thinking it was malfunctioning.
Then this morning Cindy and I climbed Tramway. Tramway is about a 1000 foot gain of elevation over 6 miles. Not monstrous, but a steady climb. I kept waiting for the fangs and the claws to make their appearance and then, there we were: at the top.
I climbed Tramway. What was I so afraid of?
A side note: According to Weight-Watchers, the Tramway climb doesn't burn off a medium carmel machiato and large cheese danish. Next time I'll skip the danish and get a small machiato.
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