Good runs keep on coming

How hard is it for you to have two good runs in a row? How about three? What about four? It seems that the biggest problem with running is that good runs don't happen often enough. After nearly every run my wife asks me, "Did you have a good run?" It's usually hard to answer that question. If it's a normal day in which I don't care about pace, it's tough to have a bad run, but it's tough to say yes. If I have a tempo run, "good" can turn to awful if I'm a few seconds off the pace I seek. If I'm running more than 10 miles, "good" may be determined by the weather or if I had to take a bathroom break during the run.

But in the past week, with the focus of my runs being to get through them without any pain, I've had excellent runs. I haven't focused on pace, but my trusty Garmin tells me I'm in about a 9-minute mile pace. It's so great to be at that pace for a comfortable run. It makes me eager to do some sort of interval training very soon. With no planned races yet, I have nothing to worry about. Being able to run worry-free is an added bonus I don't think I've ever had.

So back to this consistency with good runs. Today I put in 4.2 miles (as well as a mile walking) and things continued to go well. My upper body was sore from lifting weights yesterday, so things actually felt weird at first. It had been a while since I lifted enough to be this sore, but it's a great feeling to have. It's almost like I can feel things changing even though my scale doesn't want to change.

Also with today's run, my May miles passed my April total. That's almost hard to believe, but it's great to put all that behind me now.

2 comments:

Jason said...

I'm no expert, but I've definitely noticed an improvement in my running with the added weight training. Keep it up!!

Nancy said...

That sounds fantastic. You are heading in the right direction. YEAH!!

I know what you mean about being sore and how weird it is to run. I just started a new program and the soreness is going to make the running strange, difficult, not sure yet. It did get better as I continued. The trick will be remembering that!

Good luck!!