Thursday's are really the hardest days. I have to get up and going as early as I can in order to get the run in before work, and I have long tempo sessions to look forward to. No wonder I don't feel like getting out of bed.
The alarm went off at about 6:10. I got up and moving pretty quickly for me because we're babysitting Flash, my dog-nephew, and that makes things complicated with our cats who are terrified of dogs. So with both cats in the room and the dog encroaching on the bedroom door, I had to get up and get things sorted out right away. That meant pushing Flash out the back door and then getting the cats out the front. By then, I wasn't asleep any more, so I just went ahead and got moving.
Even so, by the time I ate my cereal and got everything ready, it was 6:45. I had a 50 minute tempo run scheduled, so add in the 15 minutes warmup and some cool down, and you've got 8 miles plus or minus a little. I had plotted a route the night before because I wanted something different. This was to go over through Tarrytown and back up the Scenic loop to 35th with an extra loop up Jackson/Bull Creek to 45th and back on Shoal Creek.
It was a nice morning, in spite of the humidity. I got going and shook the stiffness out of my legs. I had my water bottle on my back because I wasn't sure where I'd find water, plus it's better to avoid stopping during tempo sessions if possible. I knew that I was in for hills, and of course I had to start the tempo work right as I hit them... That slowed me down I'm sure, but still it's good on my legs to force myself up and down the hills and still try to keep moving at a decent pace.
The Scenic part of the run is always great, especially in the morning. You could look out over the lake for a mile or two up stream and see the morning sun starting to shine on the giant houses across on the other side. It's nice because there's not really any boat traffic that early in the day, so the lake is still peaceful and quiet. Through the neighborhood all I see are cyclists, other runners and people walking their dogs.
Tempo hurts, did I say that? Especially going up and down the hills. But I forced myself to try to be steady all the way up the last long hill on 35th street over Mopac and then I could finally think about mostly flat (or at least false flats) for the last 8 minutes or so of hard running. I tried to pick up the pace once again and hold a pretty fast tempo for the last part. It hurt, but I eventually made it and had still about 1+ mile to go, which gave me plenty of time to cool down.
Whew, another hard workout down. I'm not thinking about Sunday's 2 hour run or about next week's 60 minutes of tempo yet.
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