Last week I took an entire week off running in order to recover from Paine to Pain. Monday and Tuesday I didn’t feel like and couldn’t do much of anything as my right wrist and elbow were sore and swollen from the fall I had in the race. I didn’t break or sprain anything, but I fell hard enough that the area around the joints were a bit inflamed. After the swelling subsided, I could use my right arm normally again. It’s been a week now and my arm, which was pretty scraped up, looks much better.
Yesterday Ben and I thought it would be nice to do a quick speed work out at the track in Astoria Park. The original plan was that I would run 1.5-2 miles (depending up on how I felt) at a 7:50 pace. After the first loop I said, “I’m tired.” Ben quickly replied, “Okay, we’ll do one fast mile then.” Ben knows that I don’t complain about being tired and I don’t like to cut my planned work outs short, so for me to say that I was tired after a quarter mile, it meant that I was really tired.
Pretty much from the start I could tell it was not going to be a good day. My legs were extraordinary heavy. Normally regardless of how hard the run is going to be, the first 1/2 mile always feel easy. But yesterday I felt really tired and like I had already been running for a while. My legs weren’t fresh and they needed more time to recuperate.
I gritted my teeth and ran as hard as I could. I focused on certain landmarks to get me through each loop. “Now just until the bend.” “Okay, we’re at the bend. Now, there’s the start/finish line. Just go until there.” “You started another loop, might as well finish it.”
My splits were:
- 7:43
- 7:53
- 7:50
- 7:46
Total time was 7:14. A new mile PR by 3 seconds, even with my heavy legs. I was a bit surprised because I had thought that I would run slightly slower. I’m happy because it means that I can run a mile at this pace consistently and that it wasn’t a fluke.
While walking back home I couldn’t remember my old PR.
“Was it 7:17 or 7:07?” I wondered aloud.
Ben argued, “It couldn’t have been 7:07. I would have remembered that.”
“I think it’s 7:17, but 7:07 keeps popping into my head. Maybe I’m Paul Ryaning my time.”
A Fast Paced Life 