rachelle

"Man imposes his own limitations, don't set any." -Anthony Baily

this morning i set out for my 12 mi med/long run that was on my schedule, with the plan of pushing it a little bit.  pushing out of that comfort zone.  i wasn't trying to go crazy, but i didn't want to go as easy as i normally do.  i set out at 5a.m. with my headlamp/waterbottle and headed towards woodward park. it was already 78 degrees, which is about ten degrees warmer than it has been in the morning, and it was humid. it's supposed to be 110 degrees today :( 
  
i wanted to run by feel and my breathing. i read an article recently about different levels of breathing techniques...i think it was in running times magazine. there were 3 levels: easy, moderate, & hard. anyway...i wanted to try to keep it to 4 step breathing...two steps for a breath in, and exhale the following two steps. this would be an easy effort. and possibly towards the end of the run move into the moderate level, which is inhaling for two steps and exhale completely on the following one step. worked like a charm. it was really dark, and i didn't feel like keeping an eagle eye on my garmin...so i went with the flow. i just ran and concentrated on my breathing. the whole run felt really good. got my hydration/fueling figured out and now i'm able to really focus on the running. at my turnaround point, i filled up with water and tried to push a little harder. the sun was finally rising, and i was in shock when i looked down at my garmin and saw i was pretty much cruising at about a 9:30 pace.  the last 3 or so miles my breathing moved into the moderate level, but i still felt good.

stats for run:
12.0mi/1:54:26/avgHR 158/avg 9:32

10:03,9:43,9:41,9:29,9:28,9:33,9:28,9:28,9:30,9:29,9:22,9:12

pretty excited about those splits!!


lesson learned...don't underestimate yourself!