Friday. Day 53. The alarm yanks me right out of the middle of a dream. I am startled and it takes me while to figure out what is going on. There is a big difference between waking up at 5:00 versus waking up at 4:40. No wonder I am startled when the alarm rings.
Grabbing my gear I am dreading the run. I like this run, but I know that my conditioning is slipping. The time I have taken away from the pool during the month of February is taking a toll and it is this run where it really shows up.
At the gym, I layer up, the temperature is a very brisk 25 degrees, but he wind is dropping it down to 18. It just feels cold. The run is not long, an easy 8 at a 7:33 pace. Starting, the first mile is not too bad, I am having difficulty with my breathing, but mostly due to the cold air, it is preventing me from taking in a deep breath of air. The next mile is a gradual uphill climb, the legs and lungs are warming up but he extra effort is evident. Mile 2-3 is just ridiculous. It is up and down, with a big uphill net gain and rather than pace this part of the run, we were hitting it. Well jay was hitting it, I was hanging on thinking this one is tough. My other thought was an immediate understanding of just how much conditioning that swimming twice a week was providing. At the end of January, I was killing this course and this run was far easier. A month ago I ran our 8 mile LT run at a 7:16 pace. Today we ran the 8 miles in 7:22, but it felt much, much harder.
March is coming next week and I will be back in the pool.
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