Friday, September 30, 2011

Four Legged Speedwork

When you run with a dog, your pace is all over the place.  

You speed up, you slow down, you let the dog sniff things, you let him pee.  Your pace might go down a bit when he gets tired, or when he tries to lap up the dew that's on the grass.  Then it shoots up when he sees a chipmunk that he wants to chase.

But it's great to have a companion as enthusiastic about running as you are, especially when he finds your running shoes, brings them over to you, and drops them next to your feet.

My confidence level is slowly increasing, thanks in part to physical therapy, but also to Frank.  I'm not one for doing speed work, but with the time I'm spending with him, I think I'm getting it done.

My last three runs have been great.  When my knee first started to bother me, I was running between a 10:00 and 10:30 pace.  But now that it's healing, I've been shocked when I look down at G-unit as we ramble on.  I've been hitting between a 9:15 and a........8:30 pace!!  At one point I was cruising along, and my chest was feeling a bit heavy, and I realized I was running a 7:40 pace.  Wha wha whaaaaat?????

That's all well and good, but I think I need to fit in some solo runs, so I can find a consistent pace on my own.  Which is where tomorrow's run comes in.  Saturday it's going to be chilly and rainy, I'm talking 30 degrees in the morning chilly.  I haven't run on the treadmill in a while, so I'm going to do my 18 miler inside. I think it will be good for me, mentally, and physically.  I need to do some hills, and I have Mildred Pierce on the DVR, and I'm eager to get it done.  


Tomorrow is day one for participating in my virtual Fall 5k race, details are here, but you have until October 9th to run a 5k, with a chance to win some great prizes.  The registration fee is a donation to my NYC Marathon fundraising page, to benefit the Children's Tumor Foundation.

I'm so thankful for the donations I received this week, I truly appreciate it. 

Happy Running, Biking, Swimming, Walking, Racing.....Happy Weekend : ) 




10 comments:

Christi said...

Have a great long run!

A Prelude To... said...

I totally expect that any run with my dog is going to have at least a 2 mile "warm up" where she is peeing, pooping and sniffing everything.

I can't believe you're running 18 miles on a treadmill! The DVR should totally help, though.

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Enjoy your weekend

Tara said...

I can't run with my dog, she poops too much and I hate running with a bag of poop.

Yay for good long runs! I have started to leave the garmin at home, I find that when I start to look at it and I am running at a hard pace, I start to think that I can't do it and I slow down.

A virtual 5K? OH man, I hate 5k's, but hmmmm, can we still sign up? Or is the deadline past?

heather said...

My dog makes me go way too fast. I also hate it when I'm going too fast and I'm huffing and puffing and dying and I look at her and she's just trotting along like it is no big deal!

Lisa said...

Who's Mildred Pierce? - I'll google it, never mind!
Wow speedy - that's fantastic!!!
Good luck on your long run - hope it's pain free and gets your internal pace reset! Can't wait to read all about it! 18 miles - wow, I seriously can't imagine - you're amazing!!!!

Black Knight said...

I'd love to run with a dog, it is my impossible dream because I have 3 cats at home.
You are going to be very fast, congrats!
18 miler on the treadmill? You are a superhero.
Have a good week end.

Annie said...

I would love to run with a dog, but I don't think the pugs could take it. Hope the treadmill run went well! Though honestly I would love some 30 degree weather to run in right now :)

Anne said...

Frank definitely has you working on your pace :) I hope your 18-miler went well!!

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