Monday, February 12, 2018

I Ran 3 Miles!

On Saturday, Matt and I went for a run on the golf course for the first time in months. I switched my intervals to 2:1 because 3:1 has begun to feel like too much effort too soon. At the end of each run, I'm totally wiped; there's no "easy" effort with 3:1.

About 1.5 miles into the run, I told Matt, "I don't know how I'll ever do that 5k next weekend. I'm already feeling so tired and weak." I felt frustrated and a little hopeless, knowing I've been able to do about 2.5 miles but that I still don't feel like I'm making progress as far as strength and stamina goes.

He assured me that even if I end up walking the last mile of the race, I'll be able to do a 5k.

We continued on our run. My body finally found its groove, as it would after a couple miles of warmup in the old days, and before I knew it my watch was beeping...we'd done 3 miles! The last 1.5 had felt really good!
Matt is such a good photographer!
We ended up doing 3.16 and on the last walk break I just decided to walk the rest of the way home; there was no point in pushing it.

This run gave me tons of confidence and made me feel so strong. I gave Matt a high five and spent the rest of the night totally jazzed. I didn't care that I'd walked about half of it with the intervals. I was so happy that my legs weren't sore and spent at the end.
The run took about 35 minutes. After spending 2015 going for speed and finally breaking my 5k PR, chipping away at the 26:xx range and trying to get to 25:xx, it's ironic that running that distance nearly 10 minutes slower made me so happy!

This is how you know you're back at square one. Distance completely supersedes pace. I'm too happy to be running to feel anything else. I'll run without intervals again eventually, and I'll get back to my previous paces. If I'm honest with myself, right now I can't really imagine ever getting there, but I know logically that I will. For now, I am just going to be patient and celebrate my small victories as they come.

ABK

4 comments:

  1. I'm so happy to hear that you were able to finish 5K without feeling wiped. I'm looking forward to shortening my intervals tonight and seeing how it feels for me.

    Since I have never had any speed to speak of, I'm just in shock that I ever ran more than 5K. At this point the idea that I used to be in consistent half marathon distance shape blows my mind. I can't even imagine running five miles at this point, but I also don't have a super strong desire to increase endurance *fast*. Like you I'm happy to just be running, and I'm looking forward to all the little small victories we'll have along the way to our next big race.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Totally get it.

    My first 5k after ankle surgery was 35 and I cried.


    But I got faster and am faster than before.

    Be patient

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is very exciting news! Recovery is a slow road, but an important one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome, Ali! How many days per week are you running these days and how far?

    ReplyDelete