Pre-Dawn Run

I am never ever ever able to get up early for my Tuesday and Thursday runs, even though I always go to bed with the best of intentions the night before. I even try to get to bed early for that very reason!

I set three alarms; one for 5:30am (so I could hit snooze 1x or 2x), another for 5:45 a.m. (the time I needed to get up to run), and one for 6:30 a.m. (the time I get up for work). I was fully expecting that the only alarm I would heed was the 6:30 one!

I slept kind of fitfully last night, waking up at 12:30, 1:30,  and 2:30. Finally, I woke up at 4:30am, and I was unable to fall back to sleep. So I decided to get up and knock out my run. I took a few moments to decided whether I wanted to run outside or on the treadmill. But since I find the treadmill particularly hard in the morning (maybe because I'm not already pre-warmed up from walking around all day?), I decided to hit the neighborhood.

Man oh man, I'm loving this Fall weather. When I stepped outside it was soo cool and lovely, perfect for a jog.  It was also pitch dark, and it was beautiful with the stars & moons overhead. I set up the podcasts I wanted to listen to, did some walking & high knees for a warm-up, and then I took off.

During my last 5k, I minimized my running app and paid no attention to my time, speed or distance till the end of the race. I really liked doing that because when I  pay attention to my app, it all goes by so slowly, and sometimes I get discouraged if I'm not going the speed I think I should be going, or I feel overwhelmed by how much longer I have to go.  I decided to do this morning's run without looking at the stats just to see if I could estimate speed and such by paying attention to how hard I was pushing it.

I was so happy when my app told me I had completed a mile in 13:20 (my personal record is 13:18). My second mile was 13:38. I was so proud because that is the first time I've done 2 miles with both being under 14 minutes!  Woot, woot!

I do wish I could start getting negative splits (reducing time every mile instead of adding it), but I think I just hit it so hard when I was start, that it it natural that I slow down a bit. As I start upping my mileage, I may work toward getting negative splits! 

Sometimes I get so anxious to be faster or better, not realizing how I have improved. I was looking at my stats from past work-outs, and I found out that the first mile I ever ran a few months ago was 17:30! That is a 4 minute difference. So I have nothing to worry about truly. 

Unfortunately, when I stopped running, I ended up not feeling so hot. A lot of awful cramps, so I'm taking a sick day. I don't think it has to do with the run but I really don't know what is going on. It is so random.

Oh well, I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow, and I will have a lot of pre-dawn runs in my future!

Brittany

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