7KM Morning Run

I am trying to get at least one morning run each week, and so the weekend is the only time I get to do this. My body screams against this early running thing, but I figure that races occur in the morning, so I'd better get used to it as much as I can. This morning I attempted my first morning 7k run, and decided to just go with whatever felt good and not worry so much about keeping my pace slow.

So, I walked for 1k to warm up and then started off on what I thought was an easy pace. After about a kilometre I glanced down at my watch and was surprised to see that my pace was faster than 5:30/km. I really thought I was in the 6:00/km range, and decided to see how long I could hold it. I knew that the route I was taking would require me to tackle a lengthy set of stairs during the last third of the run, and that this would probably not only spike my heart rate, but also up my overall pace. Therefore, I was pleased to hold about a 5:18 pace for the first 4 and a half kilometres, at which point I hit the stairs and, upon reaching the top, my pace was dead on 5:30! The heart rate never really went below 160bpm after that, but I still finished the 7km in 38:14, at 5:27/km. I don't know if I could hold this for a whole 10km, but if there were no other hills I would probably be able to do it.

The knee was fine, though once again it took a couple of kilometres to loosen up. Also, it was pretty hot out and I am starting to think about having to bring water with me on these runs as I up the distance. I don't know if I will ever feel comfortable with a fuel belt or equivalent thingy, but we'll see...

Garmin don't lie:



The google image of my route.