Running on something
On Sunday, I woke up, got dressed, kissed my snoozing fiance, strapped on my heart rate monitor and my Nike+ enabled ipod, and ran out the door. I had a vague idea of my route: I'd head towards the bayou and run along one of the trails in some direction or another. But it'd been a long time since I'd done this. It could be a disaster.
It wasn't.
A mile in, I was pretty excited. I wasn't getting short of breath. I hadn't done that stupid thing I usually do and start off too fast, only to get tired way too soon. I was enjoying myself. I crossed the Bayou at the new pedestrian bridge and ran along the Memorial side, which isn't quite done yet. In that part of the route, I had to sometimes run in mud, sometimes on the half-completed sidewalk. There were barricades put up that pretty much everyone ignored. I saw other runners picking up a stroller to get it from one sidewalked section to another.
By the time I got to the skate park, and about halfway through my run, I knew that I was in pretty good shape. This is what I thought I'd be nervous about: getting too far out to decently be able to get back. But, my time was still pretty good, and I wasn't getting too tired. I slowed down once to inspect new signage and figure out which way I wanted to go right before I got back under Memorial. But other than that, my run was pretty steady. Mile four, back on the Allen Parkway side of the bayou, was pretty good too. I could feel a slight slow down, but nothing huge. When I got to Montrose, I decided to head home, and the last three fourths of a mile weren't bad for being off the trail and onto sidewalks, though I did walk a little on that stretch from Allen Parkway to West Dallas.
When I got home, just under five miles under my feet, I felt really good. It'd been probably four years since I'd run that far, and though I was tired, I wasn't destroyed. I'd run 12:30 minute miles, which for me is pretty good. I inspected the data on my nike+ site, and I saw that I was running a very steady pace throughout. There weren't that many ups and downs, though you could see where I crossed the street at West Dallas in the last bit of the run. My heartrate was pretty steady, too. I averaged 161 beats per minute, and I didn't really go crazy with exerting beyond that: Most of the time was in the heart rate zone. My ipod thinks that I run faster than I do. I suspect my gait is shorter than it thinks it is. I ended up running about a mile less than it thinks I ran, but I’m ok with that. It makes me think that I’m doing very well, and that’s what I need to do right now. When I’m much, much better, I’ll recalibrate the ipod.
I had a feeling that this run was going to be pretty good. I'd run a pretty good 3.5 miles the weekend of Thanksgiving with no ill effect. And that week of four barre classes had me feeling pretty good about the strength of my legs. The weather was really nice.
I plan on running a few shorter routes this week, and then next weekend, I'll add another mile to what I did on Sunday. And the week after that, I'll add another mile. And we'll see if this will be enough to run the half-marathon in January. If not, I think definitely February.
Right now I'm feeling pretty good about things. I may need to get new shoes sooner or later. These are sort of old, and I'd like to be able to upgrade and break in. But I feel sore in a good way, and I don't feel and strange aches and pains.
It wasn't.
A mile in, I was pretty excited. I wasn't getting short of breath. I hadn't done that stupid thing I usually do and start off too fast, only to get tired way too soon. I was enjoying myself. I crossed the Bayou at the new pedestrian bridge and ran along the Memorial side, which isn't quite done yet. In that part of the route, I had to sometimes run in mud, sometimes on the half-completed sidewalk. There were barricades put up that pretty much everyone ignored. I saw other runners picking up a stroller to get it from one sidewalked section to another.
By the time I got to the skate park, and about halfway through my run, I knew that I was in pretty good shape. This is what I thought I'd be nervous about: getting too far out to decently be able to get back. But, my time was still pretty good, and I wasn't getting too tired. I slowed down once to inspect new signage and figure out which way I wanted to go right before I got back under Memorial. But other than that, my run was pretty steady. Mile four, back on the Allen Parkway side of the bayou, was pretty good too. I could feel a slight slow down, but nothing huge. When I got to Montrose, I decided to head home, and the last three fourths of a mile weren't bad for being off the trail and onto sidewalks, though I did walk a little on that stretch from Allen Parkway to West Dallas.
When I got home, just under five miles under my feet, I felt really good. It'd been probably four years since I'd run that far, and though I was tired, I wasn't destroyed. I'd run 12:30 minute miles, which for me is pretty good. I inspected the data on my nike+ site, and I saw that I was running a very steady pace throughout. There weren't that many ups and downs, though you could see where I crossed the street at West Dallas in the last bit of the run. My heartrate was pretty steady, too. I averaged 161 beats per minute, and I didn't really go crazy with exerting beyond that: Most of the time was in the heart rate zone. My ipod thinks that I run faster than I do. I suspect my gait is shorter than it thinks it is. I ended up running about a mile less than it thinks I ran, but I’m ok with that. It makes me think that I’m doing very well, and that’s what I need to do right now. When I’m much, much better, I’ll recalibrate the ipod.
I had a feeling that this run was going to be pretty good. I'd run a pretty good 3.5 miles the weekend of Thanksgiving with no ill effect. And that week of four barre classes had me feeling pretty good about the strength of my legs. The weather was really nice.
I plan on running a few shorter routes this week, and then next weekend, I'll add another mile to what I did on Sunday. And the week after that, I'll add another mile. And we'll see if this will be enough to run the half-marathon in January. If not, I think definitely February.
Right now I'm feeling pretty good about things. I may need to get new shoes sooner or later. These are sort of old, and I'd like to be able to upgrade and break in. But I feel sore in a good way, and I don't feel and strange aches and pains.