Lake Michigan at Sunrise

Lake Michigan at Sunrise

Friday, May 10, 2013

Respecting the Run

After a rest day yesterday, I was itching to get out again. Saw there might be scattered showers at 5am, bring it!

Wake up and see this on me phone:

Rain... and dry conditions will continue?

So its dry and raining? Go home weather.com, you're drunk! I check the radar and it showed the rain moved out of the area. Score!

I just bought a new battery for my phone since my previous one was losing its charge waaaay too fast.  Decided to give the new battery a test and run Endomondo and a GPS booster for my run.  I wanted to also focus on respecting the full length of my warm up and cool down distances (1.5 miles both).

As someone who has a time deadline to get back home from my runs, slowing down isn't my favorite thing to do.  It took me awhile to respect the need for easy/recovery runs, and make sure I wake up earlier to do them.  Now as I am prepping myself for my training program for Chicago marathon, the plan requires a 1.5 to 3 mile warm up and cool down for your harder run days (strength/interval/tempo days).  Initially, I responded like, aint nobody got time for that!

As I settle into my current weekly mileage, and running first thing in the morning, I initially accepted a warm up period, but not much of a cool down. I didn't want to see my average pace time go down that much.  Today, I broke that mental barrier, when I heard my phone yell out 7.5 miles, I dropped my speed down and just glided home the last 1.5 miles.  I checked my splits and funny enough, my body didn't really warm up until mile 3. Although, I still put a note in my running log so my Runkeeper friends know that wasn't my constant pace, hah... 

The run itself was okay. My stomach let me run about 90% of the speed I wanted, whenever I went up to the pace I wanted, it pushed back, oh well!  The weather was damp, foggy, and maybe a very light drizzle.  The trees were shaking what their momma gave them and would give you a quick shower if you weren't careful.  I guess it was misting enough to soak my socks though... yummy.

The crowd I saw earlier in the week was not seen, even south of Belmont. I guess 40s and puddles kept some people in bed.  I saw most of my normies, for my daily nods/waves/thumbs up.  Oddly enough, the traffic starting picking up north of Montrose.  I saw a few groups come out to run that I hadn't seen since last fall. It was like fire sale on waves and hellos! Great way to cheer up the last couple miles. 

Glad I got my running fix, that it is Friday, and hoping tomorrow morning will mimic last weekend and start like this (Excuse the PJs and front facing camera resolution!)

Saturday Morning Snuggles!

Did you brave the Misty Mountains paths today?

Happy Friday!





9 comments:

  1. I have never been one to warm up or cool down when I run... Or workout in general. I believe in the notion that if you have always warmed up then keep warming up and if you didn't then don't. I always hated when a training plan said you had to do something... But then again... I never did follow one either...


    Happy Friday!

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  2. It is hard to really get into, but it has helped in the time I need to stretch afterwards.


    Thanks for commenting and enjoy the day!

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  3. Kelsey @ Fueling StrongMay 10, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    I am so bad about warming up and cooling down. I just want to get after it, but this body of mine loves to remind me that I need to treat it well or it will rebel like it did today.

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  4. Its like a mini adrenaline rush to start a run! You just want the leash to get cut and go!


    Your legs angry today? I hope its nothing bad! TGIF!

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  5. How much do you usually slow down on warm-ups/cool-downs? My trainer told me to try walking 1/4 mile each way, but even that feels like WAY too long! So I usually only do about a block.


    I'm glad it didn't rain all morning, like it was originally supposed to!

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  6. I start about 1 to 1:30 slower than my goal pace, and slow down roughly at the same area. And they are both for a mile and a half.


    Chilly rain is no fun, summer rain just makes you feel like a kid in a sprinkler!

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  7. I used to not warm up at all, and would toe the line at 5K or 10K races completely cold. Then one day I tried warming up and ran a 5K about 2 minutes faster than I thought I would be able to - and this made me realize that warming up is legit! I don't do cooldowns much except when I'm doing speedwork. Usually my cooldown is just walking around for a few minutes!

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  8. Thanks for sharing your success with warm ups and stopping by! Happy Friday!

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  9. I made the mistake of not checking the weather before I ran and when I came home, dripping with enough sweat for my dog to lick it off the floor, I saw it was 88 degrees. Ouch.

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