5km Descent

Thanks to all who left advice on what worked for them as far as hydration and such on my last post. I think I will try the Gatorade powder mix and go from there, perhaps moving to the gels and gu when my runs become long enough to warrant it. I still find it weird that I used to be able to train for 6 hours each day without ingesting anything during exercise. Grant it, this was in the pool, but I ate a tonne of food each day so I must have been burning a lot of calories. The training wasn't easy either and ran the gamut of aerobic, anaerobic, lactate threshold, VO2 Max, etc. Running can't be that different, but then again what do I know?

Tonight's run was a lot of fun, but it didn't start out that way. As usual these mid-week runs are designed to get in some more mileage in preparation for the long runs that I am doing each Sunday. I try and run easy and relaxed, and just go on feel. At the beginning I was not into it and my pace was nice and slow (right on 6:00/km over the first split). I then began to loosen up and with each passing kilometre it became easier and easier to go faster. My splits kept going down, and my heart rate slowly went up. In the end I was quite pleased at how fast I was able to run while keeping my heart rate relatively steady. At no point did I feel out of breath or winded. I ended doing the 5km in 25:57 for an average pace of 5:11/km (or about 8:12/mile). My average heart rate was 140bpm. The last kilometre I was flying (at least by my standards) and completed this lap in 4:20, which translates to a pace of 6:59/mile. I hit the sixes and I didn't even know it!

It's fun to run fast, that's for sure. During the last part of the run I was really into it and didn't stop to see who it was when I heard someone say, "Vava?" as I passed by. I can't figure out who it could have been, but it was kind of neat to have someone recognize me and to surprise them perhaps because me running, and at a decent pace, is still pretty out of context for most people who know me. (Boy, what a horrible sentence! If you can decipher it, then I am impressed. It might help to read it with a teenaged attitude, like you know?!) The best part is that on a night like tonight I feel that I could run even faster, but maybe that's just my brain trying to write cheques that my body can't cash. Whatever the case, it was a blast.

Garmin don't lie.