Today I got back into Central Park for a run which turned out to be a rather comfortable 8.15 miles. I was glad to be back because last week was a wash from one of my most hellish weeks of work. Each day I was up before 5am for work, with one day being up at 3am. I was physically drained from playing a costume character on Monday (then running), and never really got to get adequate rest because of exceptionally early calltimes. I ended up with a cold by week’s end, stayed in bed all day on Saturday (skipping the Healthy Kidney 10K race in Central Park that I’d signed up for), and had my energy back by Sunday, which was dedicated toward catching up on chores and errands rather than running. The same with this past Monday, when I had little productivity time after getting up for work at 2:30am(!!!). Despite working a little late last night, I got up early today before my calltime to do a run.
The weather was cloudy, though not quite dreary–post-rain weather that didn’t feel that humid. The cool temperature of 52 degrees was quite pleasant to run in, and it may have allowed me to sustain the 7:29 pace that I pulled off. This was only 3 seconds slower of a pace than May 8th (11 days ago), when I last did 8.15 miles. By comparing the two days, today’s run was stabler, meaning my pace was more consistent from mile to mile.
The only twinge I felt was briefly after shifting my stride to “short” (when I focus on rapid turnover of my feet). The twinge was in my left knee, in the center of it just below the kneecap. It was a twinge like a pin maybe pushing into the center, but nothing too painful. It developed maybe a minute after starting to short-stride.
This week seems a little less hellish but it’s really to be seen what I can pull off. I did also get in a quick set of abs, back, and arms at the gym before nearly burning down my apartment with letting my eggs go too long on the stove. Doh!
I’d love to be faster than I am right now. Time, Ben, time! Oh, and on recommendation, I’m reading Ed Burke’s Precision Heart Rate Training when I can. I’m trying to get to a place to use my Garmin’s heart rate monitor. I’m interested to see how heart rate training will affect my training, speed, and endurance.