Holy Crap! Did I just do that?
WOW! |
Anyhow... so after a brief warm-up, I start my mile time trial and I'm not really feeling my mojo. My running mojo that is. My "other" mojo was good to go the night before (grin). While I'm running, I'm thinking to myself "this is totally not the best I can do." I keep running. I have to loop around our neighborhood block which is about a half mile and there's a street hockey game going on. I realize I'll have to intercept that game twice to complete my mile. Damn. I swerve around the kids because unless I want to hurdle their bikes on the sidewalk I don't have much of an option. Then I see my neighbor walking out of his garage looking stupified at my shoes (I'm wearing my VFFs). Shit. He's going to ask me about my shoes! Damn. So as I whiz by him, he yells out "Why are you running in your socks?!" I mutter something completely unintelligible about "running for time" to him in response. What the fuck?? Come on, people! I keep running. Next thing I know this giraffe-like teenager is flying off the curb on his skateboard landing within inches of me literally almost taking me down. I had to veer to the left to avoid catastrophe. I seriously felt like I was in a video game. That near skateboard fiasco? 100 points easily. By the time I was down to my last quarter mile I had to push hard to keep up my pace. Maybe it was the adrenalin of all the near misses that did it, but when I finally reached the end of the mile loop I looked down at my watch and it read 7:42. Holy shit! Maybe my watch was broken and not measuring time accurately. I haven't ran that fast since high school! I could not believe I ran a mile THAT fast. Seriously?
Some of you might be thinking..."7:42? Meh. I can do that." Well, I'm sure a lot of people can, especially if a mile is ALL you're doing, but you have to understand that its been a long time since I've been able to run fast without pain. Pain in my left knee or (most recently) the pain in my left achilles. Once I feel that pain, I immediately back off. I'm convinced that's what's kept me mostly together for the better part of my life, the backing off part. Its also what's kept me from running distances of more than two miles for most of my adult life as well.
So not only was my mile time trial fast, but it was also painless. And, that, my friends, is nothing less than stellar accomplishment for me.
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All those high intensity interval training workouts you're doing are giving you speed. That's why I do them. You'll also find you have more endurance. It's pretty much the best exercise ever. Good work Krista!
ReplyDeleteNice job. I ought to try that. I have often wondered how fast I could run a mile - haven't done it for time since high school, which was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI had a girl friend back then who read a Q+A thing somewhere, or thought she did, that said that you-know-what before athletic events was bad. So for a while we couldn't do it before my track races. Then she happened to pick up the magazine again, took a closer look, and realized she hadn't read the whole thing - it went on to say that was a fallacy. So then we could do it before races.
Just a funny story (I think). I acknowledge that I was way to young then to be doing what we were doing. But that is another issue, and another time.
Back to running - it is like painting. Knowing what to leave out (i.e. when to back off) is key, isn't it.
Great run! Way to push. And now you know how fast you can go, which means next time you go out you've got the confidence to push that little but harder.
ReplyDeleteAnd I learned everything I know about fitness from movies, and Mickey told Rocky, "Women weaken legs." But you are a woman so...I'm not sure it applies.
@MGBG - yup. I'm getting payoff right now. Hope to keep it going for my future trail races.
ReplyDelete@jogoflap - Dude! Sounds like you missed out! Glad you're girlfriend went back and re-read that article! Ha! And WOW! You totally hit the nail on the head with the painting analogy. So true!! Negative space is so important. I guess I never really thought about that. I will be thinking about that next time I run. You must be an artist. ;-)
@DB - Thanks for the encouragement. It would be interesting to see what I could do with an unimpeded run.
OK, let's clarify... Sex is always acceptable. Sex is the main reason for working out isn't it? :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! OK. Seth. I didn't think you read my blog!! But at least you answered my question. My husband has been really happy with the results by the way. LOL!
ReplyDelete