Saturday Run

The Shamrock Half Marathon is in 21 days.  Wow.  Three weeks!  Yikes!  Still plugging away at those long runs.  Today was a step back week with "only" a 5 miler scheduled.  I laugh when I say only a 5 mile run scheduled.  There was a time when a 5 miler was a long run.  It was difficult.  It was a challenge.  Today, a 5 mile run is a nice easy run.  When did that happen?!?

Anyway... Got out on the roads today and felt good.  The wind was brutal!  I checked weather.com when I got home and apparently those gusts were between 20 and 35 mph!  No wonder I was knocked sideways a couple times during my run.

Even with the crazy wind I got my 5 miles in.  And in AWESOME fashion.  I hit a PR on 5 miles today!  Now, hubby and I debate whether you can PR on a training run or it has to be during a race.  Because I am not the fastest runner in the world and I tend to start all races in the back, I say I can PR on a training run.  :-)  So, my last 5 mile PR came about a month ago when I ran my 7.5 mile long run.  I got to the 5 mile mark and was at 1 hour 5 minutes and change.  I was thrilled with this!  My normal 5 mile pace was about 1:07:and change.  Then I went on to run 7.5 miles faster than I anticipated.  Great run!

Today, I ran 5 miles in 1:02:51.  Woohoo!  Very very proud of myself for this one.  I wasn't aiming to go out and run fast.  I just wanted to get miles in this week.  But, I had a bit of motivation from my trainer last night.  I saw him at the gym and we were kidding around about him and his running.  I told him when we met up on Monday for our session I wanted to hear all about his weekend run, even though I know it won't be as long as my 5 miles.  He in turn told me he could run the first two miles, then walk the final three and still finish before me.  Now, I know you're going to think that was a dickish comment, but he was laughing as he said it, so I didn't take offense.  But apparently I took it to heart since I kept a 12:34 pace up for my 5 miles (don't you just love that pace????).

So, now I'm going to rest because my quads are sore.  I have learned a valuable lesson today.  Don't do leg work the night before a run.  They burned the entire run.  But, I kept telling them how much more can you hurt than you do right now?  Might as well keep on pushing and see how fast you can make this run.  And setting a PR was as fast as they would go today.