Yesterday I was scheduled for a 4.5 mile run. I knew that I'd been slowly working up to that mileage and I knew that my body would probably be able to handle it - that my heart would keep beating, my lungs would keep inhaling and exhaling in time, my legs would set the pace.
But what I didn't know was my brain could keep up. 4.5 miles? At my average pace (last week I averaged a 12:50 mi), that's just under an hour of running.
So at 9:20 am, I left my house with trepidation en route to the Charles River path. Here are some of the things I discovered:
- Trying to pace myself slower is difficult. I was attempting, for at least my first mile, to average around a 13:30 mile. I had trouble staying that slow ... now that's something I wasn't expecting to experience for a long time!
- Going to bed early isn't the only battery charging I need. Next time, I will fully charge my iPod. I probably left with about 75% battery life, but since I was running to music AND Nike+, it ate up my battery life much more rapidly than I anticipated.
- Don't wear running shorts over 4 miles. Thighs = OUCH. Guess it's back to the tighter capris for running this fall!
- Plan out longer routes in advance - not only because I ran out of power and couldn't use my iPod to gauge distance (which is always a bit off anyway), but also because I forgot that my last mile was uphill. That was poorly planned! I'd rather sprint it out until the end and feel great about myself and walk farther in my cool down than exhaust myself in the last push!
Because of my lack of planning, I only ran 4.2 miles out of my planned 4.5 ... but even so, I completed that 4.2 in 54 minutes, meaning my average pace was 12:55. Not bad for my longest run yet!
According to the schedule set by Runners World's SmartCoach, tomorrow I should do my first speed workout (4 miles) and on Saturday the plan is to run 5 miles. WOW. Let's see if my brain can keep up with my body on this one!
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