They do go fast, these 5 miles

Today was yet another 5-mile Tuesday, except instead of hills, it was a run with 'aerobic intensity' parts.  This time around, it was 3 intervals of 3:00 each.  I was much better this time with staying at a reasonable pace and didn't feel like I was almost going to die at any point in the run.  This is progress.  Starting yesterday, I kept reminding myself that it was important to stay in control of intervals.  Yeah, I'm a bit eccentric that way, but hey, it worked.

The nice thing about having a 5-mile run after a long Sunday run is that the 5 miles feels like it takes no time at all.  Today, I was already at the 2.5 mile mark, then realized, 'Wow, this thing is half-way over.'  Also, I have apparently developed the ability to deceive myself with the weather.  I thought that it was nice out.  Then I got home and realized I was drenched in sweat.  They call this adjusting, I guess.

Something weird that I've been noticing over the past few runs: I keep getting a side stitch in my left, generally around the 1-mile mark.  No idea why.  It could be from knots in my back.  Last summer, I had awful knots that would manifest themselves when I was running, then radiate from the back to my collarbone and front.  It was not pleasant.  Luckily, a series of massages fixed that right up and I haven't had the same problems (also, I was running on a treadmill a lot, so my stride was somewhat compromised because I had to stay in a restricted space).  I'm going in for a massage next week, so if it is the knots, hopefully that will go away.  Alternatively, it's just a plain old side stitch.  Various sources on the internet tell me to breathe deeply.  That seemed to work fine today, but it is kind of annoying.

Too fast. But oh so good.

I wanted to go running this morning and partake in more of that fantastic weather.  Instead, I woke up at 7:30am when the alarm went off, felt like someone clobbered me with a 2 x 4, and realized what I really needed was sleep.  I am a big fan of the 'let your body dictate what you do' school of thought (within reason, of course).  The nature of my job causes me to sometimes feel much like someone clobbered me with a 2 x 4 -- Thursdays are especially bad this semester (because Wednesdays are especially long and intense).  When I can take advantage of gaining more sleep in that situation, it's my preferred solution.

I did run tonight, though, heading out around 6:30pm.  Remember a few weeks ago when the evenings seemed so much better than the mornings?  Well, provided that this morning was as nice as Tuesday, that situation would appear to have reversed itself.  The good news is that it didn't rain/storm/downpour and I did go running.  So that's all that really matters in the end.

This run was that mysterious '4M, 3 x 2:00AI' one that I was supposed to do on Tuesday.  Turns out that AI means 'aerobic intensity,' meaning that you should step up your run for a 2-minute interval.  You then recover, and run another one.  So that is what I did.  Although I think I went too hard, because the last one especially turned into more of an anaerobic interval.

Your heart rate is anaerobic when you get into that zone they always show as the 'danger zone' on those heart rate charts found on cardio machines.  Probably, you don't actually want to be anaerobic for all that long under normal circumstances, but some sports require it, such as rowing.  Part of the problem for me tonight was that it was still hot and humid, so my heart rate was already faster than usual.  Definitely, I should have slowed down.  I was even telling myself to slow down during the last AI, particularly in the last thirty seconds.

But....but....but....sometimes it is just too hard to slow down!  It's nice, even when marathon training, to feel every once in a while like you can still run fast.  I got a glimpse of that on Tuesday.  I had more of a glimpse tonight.  The actual time on those intervals wasn't particularly great (11-minute miles), but bear in mind that these were in 89F weather with 50% humidity (and 69F dew point, in case you've become obsessed with that stat like I have).  That is not bad at all.  In fact, if I use the Jeff Galloway system of computing miles in icky weather (and he does live in Florida), that turns into 8-minute miles -- the system being add 30 seconds for every 5 degrees over 60F.  Now, I know that this is exaggerating because I feel really confident that I couldn't sustain that pace even for two minutes, but a girl can dream.

Next time, I know I need to take it slower.  For today, though, I was going fast again even if, like when Ricky Bobby said it, I wasn't really.