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November 15, 2005
Morning Run Dilemmas
On Monday morning, I got out of bed at 5:15 for my 45 minute run. I couldn't run after work because I had a dentist appointment for a filling. The weather turned out to be warm and gorgeous, which meant that I overdressed. It was dark when I started, which isn't a problem, except for the fact that I run SOOO slow in the dark. I'm sure it doesn't help that it's 5:30 and I'm barely awake. I've always felt like I'm running faster in the dark, when in fact, I'm running slower. What do I do about this? After two miles, I was 2 minutes behind the time I normally hit at this point. I tried picking up the pace, but it wasn't a huge difference. I guess it's okay since most of my running last year was in the dark. The difference last year was that all my routes were very lit up. No such luck with that here.
I feel like 45 minutes is extremely do-able in the morning/dark right now, but 70 minutes is another story. I'm in trouble tomorrow. I just can't get up at 4:45 (going to bed early doesn't help) and it's hard to loop around in the dark before or after work for that long. I know, suck it up. I'm going to have to get used to my new situation. I'll have to flip a coin tonight for tomorrow's run. One side will be 4:45 am and the other 4:45 pm.
I'm thinking it would be better to consistently choose morning runs or afternoon runs to keep the rest consistent. Since I ran yesterday morning and had today off, it seems like I haven't run in days. OK, I'll stop complaining.
Speaking of complaining, I had an ice bath last night. I don't think I'll ever get used to them. I can tell the difference though, so I'll keep doing them. It would be embarassing if someone walked in on me for the obvious reasons, but also because of the crazy person shaking violently (maybe a little strong) with a winter hat, neck warmer past the nose, and a t-shirt on. The things we do for running...
Posted by Caitlin at November 15, 2005 07:13 PM