HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Yesterday I ran the OHSU hill as my first step towards training for the Shamrock run 15K which is March 18. I had done the run 3 years ago (right before Ari's first birthday) and I have to admit, the big hill up past OHSU was just as difficult as I remembered it.
Since most of my runs so far have been rolling hills (if you can even call them that!) rather than steep inclines, I told myself to take the hill easy and keep a nice slow pace going up. I didn't want to push myself too hard and knew long before I started that I wouldn't be able to run the whole thing without stopping. I was lucky enough to run with my friend Marie again which was lovely :) She used her MapMyRun app to record our time/pace/distance once we started. I never usually time myself for my runs so I was really interested to see how we would do.
Throughout the run, I was pretty satisfied with my effort. We made it about 2.5 miles (I'm guestimating) before I needed to walk and then we ran in intervals until we crested the hill. Once over the big bad main crest, we ran for the rest of the trail without stopping. Overall, I felt great and had a wonderful sense of accomplishment at the end......until Marie pulled out our stats.
We had run 4.68 miles in 53 minutes which gave us approximately a 11:30 minute/mile pace. .... I was tremendously dissapointed. LOGICALLY, I know it was a very steep hill for which 11:30 is pretty decent, I'm still at the beginning of my training, and this was my first big hill in a good long time, etc. However, when I had done the Shamrock run 3 years ago, I ended with a 9:30ish pace. Again, logic says the 2nd half of the run (which we didn't do yesterday) is all downhill which would have greatly improved my time - not to mention that was 1 baby and 15 pounds ago :(
So... The plan is that I'm going to download the MapMyRun app and for my long run every week I'm going to run that hill. By the time March 18th is here, I'm going to kick it's ass.
My unsolicited (but well-meaning) advice: Stop watching your pace! Focus instead on how you *feel.* Especially if your goal is weight loss. If you run too fast, you stop burning fat and instead burn blood sugar. And when your body runs out of glucose, you'll bonk. Practice training slow and steady - that's what's going to get you past the finish line, injury-free, for the marathon. (And once you have a marathon or two under your belt, then you can start working on your time.)
ReplyDeleteI know you have a very competitive spirit and I love it! But don't be too hard on yourself. :)