Being Conservative

Now wait a second, those of you that know me personally and are looking at this title, must be thinking, there is no way that word has anything to do with the person who is writing this. And to be honest in 3/4's of my life, you are correct, I am anything but. But in racing that seems to be my theme. This past weekend, Nick and I headed up to Rochester to spend the weekend with the in-laws. We didn't have many workouts on the agenda because I was supposed to race a 5k on Sunday. Well due to the always cold weather up there I couldn't find a race, so I had to do a race simulation.

On Friday Nick and I decided to head out for a quick run outside. We haven't been running so much together lately, but honestly I love it. As long as it is 4-5 miles and no longer Nick is happy to tag along and keep my company, as long as it is not below zero out. So we did a quick 40 min run outside just to get some energy out. Saturday was a rest day, so we did nothing besides go to Sticky Lips BBQ and fill ourselves with pulled pork and a deeelish Ithaca Apricot Pale Ale.

Sunday we got up ate some raisin toast and I headed out to run my 5k. I felt great, my legs felt rested and I was ready to go. I started out at an 8:17 pace and then picked it up a little. Before I knew it I was at 2.5 miles, but the problem was, I really wasn't pushing it that much. I picked up the pace and finished the last .3 miles at a 6:50 pace (that is no where near a normal pace for me), and I did it only because I had so much energy left. Once finished I realized that once again I had gone too conservative. I pushed hard enough to feel like I was working but not hard enough. I felt a bit disappointed when I was done because I know I could have gone faster.

Now I need to reassess my game plan. I have a marathon coming up in 1 month and I need to be able to go into it with a plan. A plan that will help me to reach my fullest potential while still being able to survive. I mean really, f*ck being so conservative!

So this is my new hurdle, that I need to be able to clear in the next 30 days so I can race on the 25th with a new frame of mind. Here's hoping!