So last Sunday I accidentally did the first run of week 5. I thought that it'd be fun to mess with myself - and try to get around my mental block of thinking I can't possibly run for 20 minutes - by going straight to day 2, instead of starting on day 1 when I went to the gym on Tuesday.
Short version - I ran for 8 minutes - twice! - and had only minimal doubts about my ability to complete it. I credit my endurance and my confidence to my decision to pace myself. Instead of running as hard as I can, I picked a comfortable pace that almost felt a little too slow. In order to finish the Disney Half-Marathon and stay qualified, I have to keep a 16 minute per mile pace. The treadmill at the gym has a 4mph option that feels nice and slow, and just happens to be a 15 minute mile pace. Woohoo!
I'm looking forward to running my first race in July and getting my first "race time" so I can see what sort of training plan to do next. Apparently you base your training plans on your previous race times so you can prepare for longer distances AND faster times. OooooooOOOoh!
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Wow, congrats! I did a similar "oops." I'd been running this route near my house, that I figured was about 1 1/2 - 2 miles long. I switched to a parks trail that had mile markers, and since that other run was starting to feel not-challenging, I thought I'd increase my distance to 2 1/2 miles.
ReplyDeleteImagine my surprise when halfway through, I started feeling winded, and had to really struggle to finish at all, and then got home and figured out it had taken me TWICE as long as usual. It seems I had very much overestimated the distance I was running in the first place, and quite unintentionally ran 2+ miles! A personal best! I am still gloating about it. :)