Capable of Much More

Today I ran 5 miles at the gym on a treadmill in just under 52 minutes. According to my training schedule I was only supposed to run 4 miles, but due to upcoming events which include the Shamrock Run, as well as my impending vacation, I figured it was appropriate to up my milage & I knew 5 miles would never kill me. My pace ranged from 5.5 to 7.0 mph. I definitely stayed far too long at the lower end of that range. I think that the treadmill plays a mind game with me. 6.0 mph on a treadmill feels so much faster than 6.0 mph outside. I'm constantly trying to push myself to run faster on the treadmill, because I know I'm capable of so much more than I'm doing. (Reason #157 why I can't wait for the weather to cooperate so that I can run outside!) I consistently run significantly faster outdoors.

Regardless, I felt really good running that 5 miles! I found a treadmill in front of E! News & finally escaped the Saturday morning shows that I'm normally stuck with during my long runs! Seriously, why would a gym tune all of their channels to cartoons, Hannah Montana, & infomercials on a Saturday morning?! This should not be acceptable, but this is what I've been dealing with! Luckily, I was out later than usual last night, so my run was delayed this morning & I was rewarded with mindless gossip to occupy my run! Yeah!

Since I've decided that I'm not pushing myself hard enough, I'm going to make an effort to really increase my speed for my short runs during the week. I know I'm capable, so I'm just gonna have to suck it up & do it.... and pray this snow goes away sooner than expected so that I can hit the pavement!

This weeks stats:

Total miles run: 14

Spinning: 1 class

Yoga: 0 classes

Weight training: 1x (definitely need to get back to 2-3x)

New songs added to my running playlist:

Yeah 3x (Chris Brown)

What the Hell (Avril Lavigne)

Also happy news is that I felt with my first 5 mile run in months under my belt I could reward myself with some Sports Beans. I don't make a habit of having them, and I only eat them after/durning LONG runs, but I decided to have my first of the season today... and they made me happy!