Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Cramming It In

Of late, most of my midweek runs have been of the "just squeezing it in" variety. Maybe I'm a bad planner. Maybe I'm lazy. Maybe I'm a procrastinator. Maybe my life is wacky. Maybe it's all of the above. Whatever the case, I've still been getting the miles in, which is key.

The negative aspect of these crammed into the day runs is the pacing. When I'm just squeezing the run in, I tend to feel rushed, and I start out way too fast. And, once I get going at a certain pace, I have a hard time backing off. I'm never immediately aware that I'm going too fast, and I never back off all that much. If the run is short, it's not a short term issue. Of course, it's rarely a longish run, I'm squeezing in. The real problem in the long term is the fatigue. By accidentally pushing it on my short runs, it limits my recovery. Could be an issue.

Then again, maybe it's not. The positive is that I'm getting used to running at a faster pace. From training on trails for marathons, I'm one giant slow twitch muscle right now. Racing a half marathon is easier than racing a mile. So, perhaps it might not be all bad. For instance, today, I squeezed in 3 miles at a very comfortable 8:12 pace.

The lesson here: I have no idea what I'm doing.

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