Who Knew it Was Possible?

I haven't done anything training-wise since I ran with Elle in the stroller last Tuesday. Our whole family got a nasty cold so we've been laying low for a while.

Today I was feeling better, though. Maybe not 100% better, but well enough, and I was sick enough of not doing anything so I decided to do some speed work. I dropped the kids off at school, then Elle and I took my dad's huge truck (we swapped vehicles for the week) up to the gym. Elle was a little reluctant to go to the day care by herself, but the lady there got her into a game of catch then she was fine. I headed up to the good ol' track. I really like running on that track. I like that I know how far I've gone, and I also feel really safe because I can run and use the restrooms if I need to and if I get hurt or something I don't end up having to walk 2-3 miles home. Not that I've gotten hurt that often while running, but still. Plus, it helps me feel really fast with all the walkers up there. I always imagine them thinking, "Wow, look at her go!" I'm sure they're really just thinking, "Wow, she looks like she's in pain!" though.

I started out with a quick warm-up mile, and ended up doing it in somewhere around 9:15! It was weird that it was so fast because I felt really good, like I could keep that pace up forever. (Keep in mind that my usual speed is 10-minute miles or slower) I focused on moving my feet faster, but also tried to stay relaxed.

Next, I was going to do 4 x 800 and try to do them at around 4:00. When I got to the end of my first half-mile in less than 4:00, I decided to keep going and try a whole mile at that pace. It was awesome! I realized today that when you run faster, your adrenaline kicks in a lot faster too! I finished the mile in 7:47!

7:47

I never thought I could run that fast! I know, it was only one mile, but still! I've never even tried that before. I'm really glad I tried it today because it felt really good! If I can run one mile that fast, there's hope for me to run more at that speed right? (someone please tell me I'm right...)

I was wearing my heart-rate monitor, but I didn't look at it until I was finished. When I did look, it said 183. Wow, that's really high! Amazingly, it only took me walking one lap to get it back down to 150, then I ran another lap nice and easy before starting my timer again to do another mile.

This time I was tired, and I only managed 8:12. I'm happy with that, though. If I could run at that pace for say, I don't know, 6.2 miles, I'd be ecstatic! Or, maybe I'd just want to get faster, who knows! :)

So, deep thought for the day: You never know what you can do until you try!