Making Ten Miles My Bitch

This morning I once again broke through that ten mile barrier.

Today, I knew I could get past it, but I still had the little doubts in my head. "Ten miles is a long way, you sure you want to?"  Well, the 11.35 miles I did today, says "YES!"  I still worry about running ten miles, just not as much any more.  I ran it doing 5/1s, but does that mean I ran at leaset 10 miles today or did I walk some of it?  Well, turns out, I actually ran 10.09 miles today.  While the rest of it was walking.

The entire run took me 1:48:56, which happens to be 3 miles slower than I ran the 10.35 miles last week. Right off the bat, I not only ran further today, but ran quite a bit faster.  Average pace overall was 9:36.  My average pace during just my 5 minutes of runs, 9:03.  There was one 5 minute interval where my pace was 11::34 but that was because I stopped off at my truck and swapped out water bottles.  If I did not need to do that, then I would have had a sub 9 min average for the runs.  It is all about fast transition times!

I did try to push myself a bit today, to see how it would work out.  I wanted better time than I did last week, and I achieved that.  Also, with this week, my legs didn't start to feel much until mile 9.25.  So that's also a 1.5 mile improvement over last week.  I would say that my training is going well for me.  Just need to keep with it.   Next week is 12 miles.  I'm quite comfortable, sitting here with tired and achy legs, in saying that, 12 miles should not be an issue on Saturday at all.  I probably could have pushed that out today if I really wanted to, but no need in going beyond what is prescribed and possibly doing some damage that could harm the goal.

My legs now know what 10 miles of actual running is again.  They aren't hating me.  My head is in a good place right now. Over all, today was a good day for breaking mental barriers and pushing physical limits.  Reminds me of a quote I came up with many years ago when I first started getting into shape...

"Limitations are a fabrication of the mind"

Easy 6 Miles... Wait. What?!

Yup.  Title says it all.  I went out and ran with a friend and we did an easy 6 mile run today.  Not doing 5/1s or anything... A couple of breaks so we could water up.  But nice and easy and completed it feeling great.

I remember towards the beginning of the year I was having problems running.  I was able to do 3 miles for a while, and my goal was at least 3 miles 5 times a week.  Yeah, that fell through, I'm still not running 5 times a week, that is way too agressive with all the other stuff I'm doing lately.  But, it was so bad I just stopped running for several months and would go do it, and then flake, and run and flake.  No real motivation to run since it was starting over, and that's always hard.

Now I'm being consistant, getting out there 3-4 times a week following my plan to get my 25k done this year on Dec 31st.  And I am now at a point where I can say I went out and ran an easy 6 miles and it is!  It's amazing to be able to say something like that after so many struggles through out the year that kept me out of it.   But, I'm not going to let it get fully to my head.  I know something can come along and derail my path here and I will have to start over, but knowing I can, and doing it so successfully now makes me think if I had to, I could.

And I'm still off the sugars since Oct 31st as well as caffeine, which was totally accidental.  But, when I cut out the energy drinks, I just never replaced it with tea like I was planning on.  I got too lazy to make a cup.  Not sure why it was so easy this time around, no real withdrawal issues or anything, just cold turkey and it worked... So far...

Always a struggle and always staying vigilant!

Goals: Flexible or Not?

Today I had a goal to run 8 miles.  I woke up this morning feeling a bit cruddy, so I adjusted my goal to run 5 miles and see how I feel.  The weather here in Houston is awesome currently.  As I headed out, the temps were in the low 50s.  After a summer of record weather: most days in the 100s, highest temperatures, no rain, to name a few; these cooler temps which wouldn't feel that cold in years past but this morning it felt cold to me.  I don't know if it was because I was feeling cruddy, or just not use to the temps for so long but I was feeling the cold this morning, so I waited a bit before going out when I had planned to.  Another goal, running by 8.

So, for those keeping track, that's two goals today alone: 8 miles, and running by 8.  I didn't make either goal, I adjusted them.  I ended up getting to my run around 10:20 and ran around 6.4 miles.  So, I guess I technically made the adjusted goal of run 5 miles and see how I felt.  At mile 5 I was feeling a bit tight in the legs so knew I should push past it too much further, but I also was in the back of the trails when that happened so running back was the only option I had.

As disappointing as not running 8 miles should have been since I didn't make that goal, it was one of the most enjoyable runs I've ever had.  For me, this means more than reaching any goal, original or adjusted.  It's documented quite well how much I'm not a fan of running.  So any time I have an enjoyable run, I think that trumps any goals I have.  And since this was the most enjoyable this counts as a good run.  And I will take it.

This brings up the question.  Should goals be flexible?  I mean, I didn't reach my goals as I wanted, but still feel great about the run.  I didn't make the 8 miles which means I'm behind on the training I am trying to accomplish, but does that much? Will next weeks run goal (10 miles) be achievable because I had a good run this week even though it was 1.6 miles short?  I guess I will find out next week!

Why all this talk about goals now?  I came across a revelation recently.  I set myself a goal for the month of October to not eat out at a restaurant all month.  Now, I didn't reach that goal because I did eat out a couple of times, but much less than I normally do, which had a surprising effect on my bank account.  So, even though I didn't reach the goal, I had positive results.  This has got me to thinking that I really need to start creating myself more proper goals.  I always say "my goal is whatever" and although I say that, I don't actually make it happen.  I once saw a sign that said "Goals are dreams with a plan."  

Time to start planning out my dreams and turning them into goals.