FRI-YAY!
Yesterday, I read this post on Salty Running: When It Comes to Running, What Is Easy?
I definitely do not take it "easy" on my "easy" days. I think it has a lot to do with anxiety I feel to get the run done, mostly because I am fitting runs into small windows of time. With the start of school, my day has much more structure in place in terms of logistics of picking my kids up at the end of the day, getting to work by 7 so that I can leave at 3 to get kids. Thus, I am trying to get my week day runs done in the early morning, prior to work. I also like to sleep. So I have calculated that if I set my alarm at 5, I can be back, shower, help get kids ready, lunches, etc before I am out the door to get to the office. Phew. Just typing that made me anxious.
Today I had an "easy" 4 miler on my schedule and I tried so hard to go easy easy easy. According to the article, my "easy" pace could be anywhere in the 1:30 - 3:00 slower than my 5K pace. My last 5K pace was 6:18 so that leaves me with a 7:48 - 9:18 window.
I got up at 5 and thus was in the dark, save for my knucklelights and neighborhood lighting, chugging along. In addition to the aforementioned anxiety of having enough time, it is hard for me to fully relax during an early morning run because a small part of my brain thinks, "What if some creepy guy is chilling out waiting to pounce on me?". For this reason, I stick to running laps around my quasi-closed neighborhood.
My first mile was 7:55. YES. Definitely felt easy and definitely was working to slow down. It felt really unnatural. I let go of working so hard to think about "going slower" during my other miles and the result: 7:27, 7:30, 7:24. My average pace for my 4.03 run was 7:37. A little faster than my optimal window, but not terrible.
Anyone else not go easy enough on easy days?
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