When I woke this morning, the thought of grinding out 4 miles on the treadmill was unappealing. It was cloudy and there was a nice breeze outside, so I decided to take run to the park.
Planned workout
8 minutes warmup
4 miles at 9:15 pace
5 minutes cool down
Actual Workout
8 minutes warmup
4 miles at 9:12 pace
8 minutes cooldown
It was cool and breezy when I started to run. My goal was to run the first mile at about 9:30 or 9:45 pace, but everytime I glanced down at my Garmin, it seemed like I was running at 8:30 or 7:30 pace. I kept slowing myself down, which is better for morale than telling myself I need to speed up I guess. I completed the first mile in almost exactly 9:15. That was when I reached the park. Running around the lake, there were fewer interuptions for traffic, so I was able to quicken my pace. I started to get tired during the third mile and took a 1 minute walk break when I passed the 3 mile mark. The final mile went pretty smoothly, but with a quarter mile left, I developed a pretty painful stitch. Knowing that I was so close to finishing with my goal pace,I gutted it out despite the pain. I knew the stitch wouldn’t result in any lasting injuries, so it wasn’t too big of a deal.
Tomorrow, it’s another 3 miler.