Well, what a difference some rain makes! Thursday the air quality was bordering on the unhealthy range somewhere between 145-150. By Saturday morning, it was down in the good range at mid 20s where it remains today.
Friday - 1.5 miles with Donna and then 30 min @EA. Nothing really stands out about this run. It was nice and easy, and the weather was already starting to get better. Pleasant evening.
Saturday - 2 miles with Donna and then 48 min @ EA. Another nice evening for a run. Best thing about this run is that
Donna admitted that she is actually starting to like running!!! Now this is a big deal for me! I kind of "influenced" her decision to start training for Princess. I told her how much fun it was to run down main street and thru the castle. I told her it was something she'd never forget. Now, of course, with covid... who knows what the experience will be. But regardless of how all this turns out, she is enjoying it now!
@DopeyBadger Billy, she has said that she likes running at her faster pace. I'm thinking we may have to up the effort for the next plan. Not enough so that she gets burned out, but enough that she still enjoys the harder run/walks.
Sunday - I spent this weekend working again. I'm really getting too old to work so many weekends, but the younger crew members don't want to and the work has to be done on the weekends to accommodate the production schedule. Anyway, it was another weekend of working out of a 135' boom lift, removing 750 watt light fixtures and replacing. Working in a lift at this height is a lot like being on a boat at sea. You are constantly adjusting your body to compensate for the movement of the lift. At the end of the day, it's pretty tiring. After work, I went home, took a nap, stretched and got busy! I'm currently out of Muarten, so pre run fuel was a GU and water. 2m WU, good no sweat, well a little sweat cause it was warmish. First 2 mile interval. When I started running at the T pace I felt "off" it felt like I was still in the lift and I felt weirdly wobbly. T + D was something near 120 so I had already decided to try and run this at the upper end of my pace window. For some reason I struggled to manage this. First mile 9:33, wobbly feeling has now passed but dang this feels hard today. Second mile 9:21 better. At least that one was within the +/- 10 sec of my 9:17 goal pace. This still felt difficult to maintain.
Now came the 5 min RI, I started walking, took in a GU and some water then went back to my WU/CD pace for the last 4 min. Second interval another 2 miles @ 9:17 goal. I felt so much better during this mile! 9:18 breathing was better, legs felt better, just overall it felt easier than the first two mile interval. What the heck? How can I feel better at this point? Second mile, 9:09. Where did that come from? Everything just felt better during this interval. Weird. this isn't the first time I've noticed the second interval feels better sometimes. Makes me wish I would have pushed a little harder on last Thursdays CV run. Maybe I just needed to get the first couple out of the way.
Finished up with another 5 min WU/CD jog, then 4 100 meters at @7:41 goal.
Managed to do 7:34, 7:42, 8:03 and 7:53. Not too bad I think.
Then a nice 1 mile @CD.
I really didn't know how this run was going to go. I was a little worried after Thursday's not so good performance and then working all day on top of that.
Other than the struggle during the first mile, I feel things went pretty good.
I do wonder though, why sometimes the second mile feels better? Is it just getting into a rhythm, or what?
Looking forward to a nice easy run tonight and then I gotta mow the lawn. Darn rain making the grass grow and all.....