Morning Run 6/6

I was actually a little excited to get up early and run this morning (shocking, I know). Since I don't have any reflective gear, I was anxious about going out too early, but I knew I needed to get out before the sun got too warm (and I knew I had to come to campus this morning). My alarm went off in 15-minute intervals starting at 5am until I thought it was light enough for me to go run and I got out just before 6am.

The difference between this run and my last run outside was night and day. It was a comfortable 65* with a light breeze and I only saw a couple cars the whole time I was out. It was great. My neighborhood is the perfect size for a warm-up lap (0.65 miles) so I did that (in 10:03) and then ran north and made a loop at Lakeview and came home (2.07 miles in 22:34) and did another lap of the block as a cool-down (in 9:47). Yes, it was a short(er) run, but I just wanted something comfortable this morning to work on my pace. My Garmin won't be here until the beginning of next week, so I'm still timing my runs with my iPod, which makes it difficult to watch my pace. I've kind of taken the route of running at a comfortable pace and I'll see how I did when I get home and upload my workout to DailyMile. As long as I do the miles and feel like I pushed myself, I'm happy.

I'm used to a much harder workout (read: burned more calories), but I think I'm going to get in some weights and circuits tonight when I get home. I had planned to scale back my weights work until after the 5k, but we'll see. It was also suggested that if I'm not going to run longer distances, I should start pushing myself to run more often (I'm running every other day right now). If I followed the base-building example of the podcast I've been listening to, my schedule would look something like:

Sun: Rest
Mon: 2
Tues: 3
Wed: 2
Thurs: 3
Fri: Rest
Sat: 4 or 5 (alternate)

I know that's doable for me, and it'd be best for me to start there (especially since I'm not used to running multiple days in a row), but I HATE seeing low numbers like that. Mike, the friend who introduced me to this podcast and a STRONG believer in the running coach, suggested I try it out this week so that I still have next week to dial back if I need to. It seems a reasonable suggestion to me.

Alright, off to deal with the shenanigans on campus ... it should be an interesting morning. Glad I got my run in already. :)