Today I had a limited amount of time to accomplish my run in order to fit it in with my other obligations. Since yesterday was a "rest" day (being Yom Kippur), I wanted to maximize my mileage. Therefore, I ran a little faster than I normally would. Rather than experiencing the fatigue that I expected, I was not only able to maintain the pace easily for three miles, but I was able to increase the speed by 1.0 mph for an additional mile.
I found myself wondering why I haven't increased my speed sooner for these easy runs. Instead, I have been maintaining a pace during my easy runs that is significantly (about 2.5 mph) slower than my race pace. Part of the reason I haven't being running faster is I am not sure what constitutes a good "easy" pace for me. While I have a plan for the type and distance of running to do each day, there is no set pace pre-determined based on my ability or past performance, so I estimate.
However, it has been quite clear to me for sometime now that my "easy" pace is definitely easy ... so why haven't I moved up sooner?
The answer that I came up with was that I was/am afraid. Of what? I suppose I am afraid of not being able to run as fast as the mileage I set, of getting tired and not being able to complete a run, of getting hurt, of falling off the treadmill or looking ridiculous, of failing.
These week I am going to accept these fears and increase my pace anyway. We'll see how zippy I can get!
Today's workout:
35 min. run (4.17 mi)
60 min. private yoga session
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