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Sunday, March 6, 2016

Now that's more like it!

Hey all! I'm just popping in quick this morning to tell you about my race pace run yesterday!

Last week I had a horrible race pace run. It was horrible because even though I hit my paces, it was a huge effort. More of an effort than it should have been. What was wrong with me? Am I not in the shape for the paces I want to hit or was I just having an off day?

This week's race pace run was going to be 7 miles- a mile longer than last week's. I was very nervous! I decided that to ease my anxiety, I needed to get out of my neighborhood and run somewhere different. I headed over to the Conewago Rail Trail in Elizabethtown.



The plan was to warm up for 2 miles, run 7 miles @ 7:15 pace, then cool down with 2 miles. While my legs didn't feel completely fresh during my warm up, they felt better than they did last week. When I started my tempo miles, I was a little concerned at first. It was an effort. 


I don't know why I envision myself running these tempo miles effortlessly. It's not supposed to be effortless! It's supposed to be hard! 

My 7 tempo miles were hard but they were manageable. It was a lot better than last week by far.


Warm Up: 8:20, 8:18
Workout: 7:17, 7:09, 7:12, 7:12, 7:13, 7:13, 7:12, 
Cool Down: 8:19, 8:06

I took this picture during my walking cool down in attempts to somehow capture they beauty of the Conewago Trail for you!


Paul calls this, "Resting tired face."

I think I have changed my mindset on these race pace runs. They are not going to be easy and that's okay. They're not supposed to be!
I hope you are having some great runs this weekend!

9 comments:

  1. You are definitely right- those paces are supposed to be challenging! But I also think as you get used these types of workouts you will start to feel more comfortable running that pace. Glad you were in a better mindset about it this week!

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  2. Nice job--that trail looks amazing. It's hard to accept that running will be very uncomfortable at times...but it will. I think this is all part of the process and one of the many things that keeps us coming back for more!

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  3. Nice work, Megan. Your pace is very consistent. Do you run in a fairly flat area? I find that if I want to pace that specifically, I need a more controlled environment. Whenever I try to run a specified pace on hilly terrain, it falls apart. Crazy how our good days and bad days are unpredictable! Whenever I have a good day, part of me wishes it was a race day. Haha.

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    1. Yes all my pace runs are in my neighborhood, which is fairly flat, or somewhere like this rail trail. I used to run hills a lot but I have to be close to Paul so the hood is one of my only options. Plus these two races I have coming up are flat or otherwise I would need to get my ass on some hills!

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  4. I understand the desire for your tough runs to suddenly feel effortless. I always wonder when I'll get to the point that long runs feel easy and like I could go forever. I wonder if even elite runners ever reach that point!

    I'm glad you had such pretty scenery to keep you distracted during your run!

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    1. You know they probably don't feel that way, because like us, we keep upping the game. I mean now you say you want your long runs to feel easy but your definition of a long run now is prob different than it used to be. We just keep setting the bar higher!

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  5. Amazing job! How on earth do you keep such a consistent pace?! I don't think I could do that even on a treadmill LOL.

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    1. I don't know! Actually, it was rare to be running 7:12, I was mostly running like 7:03, then realizing it was too fast and then doing like a 7:25. For some reason that 7:15 pace is weird for me to hit- i either want to be a little faster or a little slower!

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