Surprise! Training makes you stronger!

Reminder from Missy: Don't forget about my Livestrong fundraiser. If we meet the goal, I have to show my girly biceps to the world!

A couple days ago, I was telling my hubby that if I finished the AA Tri in around two hours, I'd be really happy with myself.  That just about lines up with my goal times for each of the three legs - not including transition times.  The hubby compared that to his dad's past finishing times at a slightly longer triathlon (the Reeds Lake Tri), and said, "You'll have to get faster in the running, won't you?"  I said, "Yah.  That may be the hardest part."  (Actually, I think my bike goal might be the hardest to meet...  Yikes!)

So, last night was my long run for the week.  The plan called for 50 minutes at a moderate, comfortable pace.  I had trouble not pushing it just a little bit because I was so curious to see whether I could run the race distance (5 miles) in my goal time (45 minutes).  So, I aimed for a 9 minute mile pace or better while still trying not to push the pace out of my comfort zone.

I realize that I'll need to be running faster than 9 minute miles in training, if I want to hit that pace on a hilly course after swimming and biking first.

The cool thing is that I really surprised myself.  I am getting faster at the running.  I finished the first 5 miles last night in 42:06 and continued on to run about 5.9 miles in 50 minutes.  Wow!  That's an average mile pace of around 8:25! 

A couple months ago I wasn't sure I would break 9 minutes.  Now, I almost feel like I'm in high school cross country again.

So, last night's run was very encouraging to me.  It seems like all this training really is going to make me strong on race day - if I don't burn out first!  lol  I hope I have one of those days where everything feels right.  If I do, all the work will pay off. 

I'm not just going to finish the tri.  I'm going to be proud of of how I finish.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Endurance Run 50 minutes (approx. 5.9 miles), 5x100 strides - Approx. 6.15 miles total
Finished 5 miles in 42:06 (average mile pace of 8:25), did 5.9 miles total (average pace of 8:28 for the whole 50 minutes).