Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Finish the run or run for time?

I ran my miles today on the treadmill because we got 8 inches of snow overnight. I really wanted to run outside like I did on Monday but it just wasn't in the cards.

I started out rather sluggish, my body not really feeling like moving much, but by the end of my 5 mile training run I was pleasently surprised to see that I beat my best time by over 3 minutes! 5 miles at 45:36 ,that's averaging a 9:07 mile. I felt pretty strong throughout the entire run, but I still feel like maintaining that pace for 8 MORE MILES is a bit in a future.

I have no doubt in my mind that I will finish this half marathon, which was my original goal, but I'm afraid to say I'm making the sketchy mental goal in my head that I can do this thing averaging less than a 10 minute mile. Everything I read says for your first half marathon your goal should just be to finish. For me though, I want more.

Another note, I'm noticing a trend in my running. My outdoor runs, the majority of which have been run in horribly cold weather, have always been faster than my indoor runs. I don't know if that means the treadmill is off, my gps watch is off, or I just truly am faster outside. I certainly don't feel faster outside, if anything quite the opposite. However I have noticed that when on the treadmill, it's easy to get into a groove at one speed and stay there for long periods of time. Outside you don't have the luxury since you're reacting to the terrain and you don't have as much of a constant watch on your speed. I don't really know what this all means if anything, it's just an observation. I will say I much prefer my outdoor runs now, even though they're physically harder on my body. They're just much less boring and a bit more rewarding.

I'm looking forward to spring, or at least no ice on the roads, at which time I think the majority of my runs will be outside, which is a change for me.

2 comments:

Ripx180 said...

a 9 min mile is great. As for speed on a treadmill vs outside, its easier to run on a treadmill (less drag) so I would think it would be faster on the treadmill too (unless you are offsetting with incline). Or maybe you are just more pumped and not as board running outside so you go faster. On the finishing vs wanting more, nothing bad ever came from wanting more. I say go for it.

on my blog... I meant"Recumbent" bike. My spelling is horrible and I know it. ;). I would totally be up for a challenge, I plan on killing this month so that would be good. I am in week 8 of p90x. I have been planning on posting a new set of pics once I hit Onederland. So those should be up soon.

Brian said...

yeah its funny, i seem to consistently run a 8:40 - 8:45 when outside. I dont hike the incline up on the treadmill, and I DO end up running some hills when outside. I don't get it. The only thing that does make sense to me is that I'm usually more sore after an outdoor run, but I attribute that to the differnt outside surfaces.

I know you meant recumbent, I was just poking fun a bit :) If you havent noticed, I'm ab absolute horrible speller so I'm also a hypocrit for giving you shit :)

Looking forward to seeing the pics (in a non gay way of course).

Hopefully we can come up with something in the way of a challenge sometime soon.