Baby steps to the faster pace

When I was sick with the flu, I saw 'What about Bob' again for the first time in years.  Hence the title of this post.  You can achieve anything and everything with baby steps, after all.

Today I broke my streak and managed to run on a day other than Monday (plus it did not even rain).  For some reason, it is unseasonably humid, which is not great.  But today's run was even less (in some respects) than yesterday's, only more brutal (in some respects).  It was four intervals of 'fast' running -- the plan isn't specific, just that it should be 'near the max.'  You do 4 x 50 meters (WHY suddenly meters?!?), then take a 2-minute break in between (labeled as an RBI in the plan, which in this case means a 'run between intervals').  This was tougher than I thought it would be since the distance looked like a little wimpy amount -- it corresponds to 0.3 miles.  That is a ways, though, if you are running fast.

Rather than run outside in the hot and humid, I decided to go on the treadmill.  Those of you who followed my previous blog may recall that I'm not the world's biggest fan.  I have used it in the past to good effect, but it's just not all that fun.  Plus the room at my local gym also gets humid, which is almost like an insult to injury.  However, I can see that the treadmill might come in handy for this running plan.  One thing that is really good about a treadmill is how you must run evenly on it since it stays at the same pace.  I noticed during yesterday's run that my pace varied pretty extensively during my run.  To get back in the even pace habit, I think that the treadmill will be helpful.

I'm finding myself annoyed because I want to be running faster than my current paces.  However, I keep trying to remind myself that just because I ran a long distance for my last race, it's different running a fast pace.  Eventually, this will sink in, plus the reason that you do a running plan in the first place is to get better.  There are still 6.5 weeks to go.  That's lots of time to improve.

(But it is still annoying).