Moving Beyond What I am Accustomed to

Saturday's run kicked my butt. We were scheduled for 16 miles, but after having taken December's long runs off to rest up, I was only up to about 12 miles. And many times during that 12 miles, I had considered cutting it even shorter. According to my Garmin and Bones in Motion, we averaged an 8:26 pace, ranging from 9:33 m/m to 7:58 m/m.

In an attempt to maintain my pride during future runs, this weekend I began accepting that I'm going to have to start moving outside of the pace I have become accustomed. It will simply be necessary if I want to hang with my Saturday running group, and ultimately, to come in under 4 hours at a marathon. Ultimately, I see the change as a good thing, but it's not going to be easy. I'm going to be in the "enduring" phase for a while--not yet "embracing."

This morning, I tried to improve my pace a little. I did so, but I would emphasize "a little." I was kind of disappointed when I looked at my Garmin at the end of my run to see 52 minutes. My hope was to be a little closer to 48 minutes. I did catch myself coasting every once in a while during this morning's run, but for most of it, I was engaged and actively trying to improve my pace. Just going to take practice and repetition I suppose.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 688 ft Location: Broken Arrow, OK Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 01/18/10 Up/Downhill: [+446/-446] Time: 05:45 AM Difficulty: 3.4 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 38 F temp; 92% humidity 38 F heat index; winds SE 5 Performance Distance: 6.38 miles Time: 0:52:27 Speed: 7.3 mph Pace: 8' 13 /mi Heart Rate: 159 bpm (Avg) Calories: 754 189 bpm (Peak Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 22 +0' 09 7.2 -0.1 +40 ft 2 8' 20 +0' 07 7.2 -0.1 +46 ft 3 8' 16 +0' 03 7.2 -0.1 -40 ft 4 8' 15 +0' 02 7.3 -0.0 -7 ft 5 8' 16 +0' 03 7.2 -0.1 +49 ft 6 8' 00 -0' 13 7.5 +0.2 -46 ft end 7' 52 -0' 21 7.6 +0.3 -42 ft Versus average of 8' 13 min/mile

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