Friday, June 5, 2009

Good Morning, Good Morning

I actually managed a morning run before work! It is a real novelty for me and I have not been good about running in the mornings, but today I knew that I wouldn't be able to run in the evening (dinner plans) so I absolutely had to do it before work if I was going to do it at all. I went to bed pretty late (as usual, and the reason why morning runs are not common for me), but I set my alarm for 5:40am. I figured if I slept through it then I'd be OK with that too. Instead, I woke right up and after about thirty seconds of indecision got up and got ready. I was out the door and running at 5:55am.

The weather was awesome - no wind to speak of and about +10C. I saw a handful of other runners out there and that was cool. The run itself went well and again I was going for the low heart rate thing rather than focusing on speed. I still feel tight in the knees and so keeping things slow and steady for a bit is a good form of active recovery while I build back my mileage during the early weeks of marathon training.

I ran along the Danforth, across the Bloor Viaduct and into Cabbagetown until I entered the Don Valley trails via Riverdale Park West. I then headed back north in the silence of the morning, which was broken only by the traffic noise from the Don Valley Parkway at spots where that highway became visible from the trail. Towards the end of the run I had to climb out using Pottery Road and my heart rate went up quite a bit for a spell, but I was OK with that because it settled back into the mid 130s right after I crested the hill.

In the end I managed 10km in 1:03:40 for an average pace of 6:22/km (10:14/mile). My average heart rate was 133bpm and so I have to call this a successful run. The knees felt stiff the entire way, but it never really got worse so that's a good sign. Given that it was an early morning run the muscle stiffness and such was not exactly unexpected. I iced right afterwards while eating breakfast and stretched throughout the day. Hopefully my knees will feel even better for Sunday's run. Also, the Garmin is once again cooperating, or at least seems to be, though I did hold my breath for a moment when plugging it into my laptop. Yay for stats!

Garmin don't lie.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Aron said...

great job on the morning run!!! it can be hard to get up but i am always SO glad i did! have a great weekend!

June 5, 2009 at 5:45 PM  
Blogger Andrew is getting fit said...

Must be nice that the weather is a bit warmer too!

June 5, 2009 at 6:42 PM  
Blogger Marlene said...

Good to see your Garmin data loading again!

This afternoon while I ran in the sweltering heat, I REALLY wished I had gotten up early to run. Sounds nice!

June 5, 2009 at 8:23 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I find I do my best runs in the morning. Once you get used to it, it's nice because then if you get busy or tired the rest of the day, you already have your run finished so you don't skip runs as often. Also, it's good training for races because most races are held first thing in the morning.

Glad to hear the Garmin is back up and running.

June 5, 2009 at 9:31 PM  
Blogger chris mcpeake said...

good job, morning runs are the best (even tho I end up mostly running in the evening). Glad the garmin is working. When I had to get mine replaced it was a real hassle.

June 6, 2009 at 6:18 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I love the morning runs. It makes me feel like I have done more in the day already then almost everyone else I see when I get to work.

June 6, 2009 at 7:41 AM  
Blogger yumke said...

I find it hard to wake up but I also find morning running in the summer a necessary evil. Plus, it leaves your evenings free.

Nice to see another TO run blogger.

June 6, 2009 at 4:33 PM  

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