Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Impromptu 10K

post-boxing class today I hopped on the treadmill at the gym with absolutely no plan in mind. I figured I would run at least 3 miles, or however far I could get in a half hour, maybe 4 miles... or heck maybe even go for 5. the most I would possibly do is 6... and even that was really a stretch, based on the fact that it was extremely late at night, and I was tired, lazy, sore, and my ipod battery died. (I even thought ahead and brought my ipod so I wouldn't have to be bored with the typical treadmill drudgery. But, of course, since I haven't touched my ipod since summer ended, and I haven't charged it in equally as long, no amount of wishful thinking, prayer, or will power was going to get that thing to turn on.) So I was left with 4 choices: deal with it & do a short run, push through and go all out no matter what, sing to myself & listen to the music over the gym's stereo system, or just don't run at all. Obviously choice #4 was not a legitimate option by any stretch of the imagination. So I went with a hybrid of options #2 & #3... and I ended up running an entire 10K!!!! It was incredibly hard, and I struggled & pushed myself the whole way there. By mile 4.9, I was wondering how I would ever make even one more step, when one of the guys from my boxing class walked by, waved & said "you're doing GREAT!" That was just awesome. It gave me the motivation I needed to persevere through and complete an entire 10K. woah.

So, impromptu 10K. completed in 49:48. not too shabby at all. My pace translated into sub-8-minute miles!!! and the last 1.5 miles were even slightly faster!

there really aren't many benefits to running on a treadmill. It's boring, the scenery never changes, it's boring, you don't get the excitement, changing terrain, or fresh air that can only be found in the great outdoors, and did I mention it's BORING!? although there is one thing I really like about it: you can track your progress by setting the pace for your run, and setting the pace on a treadmill helps your body learn to identify what running at a certain pace feels like and helps you maintain a certain pace when you are exhausted, and otherwise would have already given up or at least slowed down.

I can't wait until my next 10K race. I'm really excited to see what my time will be. I'm registered for the Ben Franklin Bridge Challenge in early November, about 3 weeks before the marathon. So far, that's the only race I have scheduled between now & Nov 23.

No comments:

Post a Comment