I'm the only one that does intervals in the entire island...I'm kidding, the only one in the group, so in an effort not to slow everyone down, I wanted to try run a mile: walk a minute interval sessions today. It didn't quite workout as planned (the intentions were good...the hills were brutal...I slowed everyone down anyway). I started off well and I think for the first 5K I pretty much stuck to the interval plan. But for the second 5K loop there was a period where I ended up walking a lot more than I was running in an effort to give my knee a break. We ended up with a 6.22 mile run completed...
I considered trying to do another 1.8 miles to make up my 8 mile mileage goal for today but the group got a lot smaller for the second loop and, at the end of it, the thought of running a 3rd loop seemed ridiculous when it popped in my head...so I didn't bother to verbalize it.
The hill work has been good for me but I really felt the pressure on my knee today, especially when we had to go downhill. Despite that I am so excited about the training I've been able to get done while on vacation! This time last year I was doing a lot more resting (and not as much running). I certainly would not have gotten out of my bed at 5am on a vacation day to run 6+miles in Dec 2013! So even though I sometimes think my progress is small, when I look at it in the context of my accomplishments over the past 365 days (filled with injuries & injury recovery) I can honestly say that I have made great strides in my training.
I still have a long way to go. 2015 is going to be a great year filled with running and routes that help me push myself (safely) outside my comfort zone so that I become an even stronger and (hopefully) faster runner than I am right now (which shouldn't be too hard considering my current "faster" is still at a double digits minutes per mile pace)...
The final countdown for 2014 is here...3 more days (including today)!!!!
How are you going to close out this year? Anyone doing a New Years Eve/New Years Day run to end/start the year with a bang?
I am excited to have New Years Eve and Day off, I will be spending it with Austin's family, they will be leaving for California next Monday. I love finding fun running groups, it really does make your training that much better!
ReplyDeleteHave a great new years eve and day! Yup, running with other people has been great. When I first started running I ran by myself for almost a year (99% of the time). Being a part of a group for my long runs and finding this new group on vacation has made the difference in my training.
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