The last couple of weeks, I was really struggling. The more I struggled, the slower I would try to run. This didn't seem to help. So the other night, I ran as hard as I could to start out and you know what? I finished my first mile in about 9:30. I slowed up a bit as my breathing became more labored, but I tried to run at a quick pace. I ended up doing 2 miles in 19:37. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as when I was trying to run at 10:30 or 11:00 minute pace. My best guess is that I was running tight when I tried to throttle things back. This "epiphany" hit me on Friday night. There was a rain delay in the Yankees playoff game against the Tigers, so I went for a run.
I tried the same with my next run on Tuesday night. I wanted to run a 5k to get ready for my upcoming 5k on the 16th. So I started out with a quick pace again and finished my first mile in 9:22. I waled for a minute then finished mile 2 in 10:11. This makes sense since I walked for a minute. My pace actually quickened a bit. Then I really ran out of gas on the last 1.11 miles. I ended up walking 90 seconds so I could catch my breath. I also had to take about a 10 second breather just before hit mile 3. I finished 3.15 miles in 32.03 which I thought was pretty good. If I could learn to push past more of the pain and labored breathing I think I could get my time down to right around 30:00. I plan on running again Thursday night, Sunday night and next Tuesday. They I will shut things down for 4 days to get my body ready for the 5k at the USPTO.
