Thursday Evening Running Group

It's been a long time, but I finally rejoined the Thursday gang: Leah, Kelly, John...and some new faces: Dave and several women whose names escape me.  I wasn't sure I was going to be up for running since I'd done the spin class at lunch and tried a little speedwork on the treadmill afterwards.  I felt spent and not up to par on the treadmill, so I anticipated not running well in the evening.

My goal was to run the first 2 1/2 miles easy, assess how I felt, and decide at that point if I was going to run the whole loop for 5 miles or cut it short and finish with 3.  We split off into three groups: Dave, John and I ran as the fast group; Kelly and Leah ran together, and the other women walked.

John started out speedier than I wanted.  I shot for a 9:00 warmup pace and Dave stayed with me.  We caught John on the hill on Avenida Venusto.  We stayed as a group up most of the long hill, silently clomping along.  I edged out ahead near the top where it's steeper.  It doesn't help me to slow on the hills.  I need to pump.  I slowed at the crest and I could hear the other two behind me.

I was feeling good and barely breathing hard.  On the downhill side heading toward Bernardo Heights, I let gravity pull me down and tried getting my revolutions up a little without increasing my heart rate.  I wasn't wearing a monitor, so I was just going by feel.  At the corner by the country club, Dave caught up and we followed Bernardo Heights together at an easy sub-9 minute pace.  I think John had fallen back a few hundred yards by now.  I never saw him again until the end.

When we reached the light at Carmel Valley, I made the decision that everything felt right and I was going to continue, turning the run into a tempo workout.  After a slight pause for the crossing light, I sped up and listened to see if Dave would keep up.  I'd given him a heads up that I might pick up the pace at that point, and even though it's not a race, you can't help but compete just a little.

I gradually went faster and faster down the hill towards Pomerado, trying to maintain my form. Once I reached the flats and turned right on Pomerado, my workout really began.  I worked at trying to keep a high stride rate while not over striding.  My breathing was relaxed but heavy.  My legs felt strong.  I had mapped out ahead of time a 3.1 mile course from the Carmel Valley crossing, and I was on the clock.

I felt like I was cruising.  When I recognized I was letting up a little, I'd start pressing again.  I imagined that Dave might be on my heels and I let my ego keep pushing me to stay ahead.  In my mind, I felt like I could be on a sub-21 minute pace.

By the time I approached Cam. del Norte, the light was starting to fade.  I made the right turn and started up the long, long hill, making the transition from sidewalk to cinder/packed dirt horse trail.  I was huffing by this point, but with the end in sight and so much work already invested, I wasn't about to slow down.  I pumped my way up the hill, dodging onto the bike lane where the trail veers away from the road and down into a gully.  Ahead, I could see where I thought the hill crested and just set my mind on reaching that point.

But it's an illusion and the hill still goes on about a hundred meter beyond that point, albeit at a lesser grade.  I finally reached the summit near the CVS driveway, and I welcomed the slight downhill, letting my heart rate drop.  I was careful not to relax too much.  I still had about 1/2 mile to go.  I wouldn't look at my watch.  I didn't want to know until I crossed the finish.

I turned right at CVS and headed back towards the high school, now booking.  My legs felt like they were spinning fast but not getting me anywhere...almost like a dream.  I was surprised to see John pop out ahead of me about a quarter mile ahead.  He'd taken the short cut from behind RBHS.  I turned off the standard course, turning right to go down to the lower parking lot.  I needed the extra distance to finish 3.1.  Down in the parking lot, I saw Dave...he'd taken the short cut too.  After all that work, I was going to finish behind them.  Hah.

I crossed 3.1 and stopped the watch.  21?  20-something?  No.  22:06.  Argh!  Can't be.  I felt like I was flying.  It could be that I mapped the course out a little too long.  Or maybe the uphill was too much to overcome, despite the early gains made on the downhill.  Or maybe I just wasn't as fresh as I could have been, had I not done the spinning and earlier running.

That's the first really speedy work I've done since coming back from the calf recuperation.  I have to relearn what it feels like to push myself.  I've been so used to slower, more relaxed pacing and exercising at a more moderate heart rate.  My lactate threshold has probably dropped a little.  It's weird to call high intensity runs 'fun' since they aren't all that fun while in progress.  The reward is the feeling immediately upon completion.

Tomorrow's a no-run day, so I'll swim and do some strength work.  I don't know what Mike has in store for me for the weekend.  I'm anticipating a long-slow distance assignment of 90-100 minutes (or about 10+ miles) on Saturday, and then probably a 5 mile recovery run on Sunday if I'm not feeling any muscle strain.  I'd love to do another CrossFit session on Saturday morning, but running's got priority.