Week 4 Day 1

All I can say is…wow! I think I’m really starting to get used to a faster pace… woo hoo!

I used a feature in the RunDouble app today just to see how I would like it…it’s a pace alarm that lets you know if you drop below whatever pace you assign. The app provides this warning when you enable the feature:

I assigned the alarm for 11:00 pace and it beeped at me almost the entire time! LOL!! …but it made me run a little faster to see if I could get it to stop and it did stop a couple of times. I’m not sure I’ll continue to use the alarm but at least now I know what to expect.

Here are the stats for today’s workout – I took a few extra walk breaks during run segments 4, 5 & 6 but it doesn’t appear to have hurt my overall pace…yippee!

Groundhog day?

Today’s run was a repeat of Monday’s – 36 min alternating 5 min run, 1 min walk.  Unfortunately, today’s weather was a repeat of Monday as well…72 degrees, 100% humidity…geesh!

I donned my Garmin, set the RunDouble app on my phone for the interval cues, started my music and I was off.  I mapped a little bit different route today so I would have a few more hills…cuz I need to get better at hills!  Today luck was on my side because both times on the same hill I hit a 1 min walk segment…whew!  It didn’t get me all the way to the top but I got enough of a break that I could keep on going.

I had one issue at the beginning, I forgot to start my Garmin on the first run interval so I started it on the first walk interval.  Because of this I’m using the RunDouble stats in this post as it reflects the entire run.  With the additional hills and an extra walk break in segment 3, my average pace was still below 12 min/mi!  Wow… I really feel like I’m making good progress.    🙂

The weekend forecast shows a drop in temps (high 75) and a drop in humidity…I sure hope they’re right!!

Beautiful morning

Ahhhh, the weather here has taken a surprising turn for the better.  This morning was a cool 65 degrees with only 70% humidity – it was such a treat to run today!!  The HM training plan called for 30 mins alternating 4 run/2 walk.  I programmed my RunDouble app so I would have cues to change at each interval and after I started I realized I had forgotten to put on my Garmin!  I guess since I’ve run at the gym the last few times I’ve gotten out of the habit of wearing it…grrr.  Today I have to totally rely on the app for my performance which isn’t a bad thing – I’m just used to having the Garmin too 😦

The other missing component is not knowing what my pace is at the turn of the wrist, so I just ran at a comfortable pace and monitored my breathing to determine if I was pushing to fast.  I’m quite happy with my pace on each run interval staying in the 10-11 min/mi range…woohoo!  I made a mistake when programming the app and I actually went one more run interval than was called for – and it was faster than most of the other intervals…another woohoo!

The next run day is Saturday – another 6 miles – it’s supposed to be just as cool but may also bring some rain.  Regardless, I’m looking forward to running without feeling like I have a car sitting on my chest!