I know that I should be running and training in all conditions, and this paid off for me when I was in competitive athletics, but right now I am in this just for my health and fitness goals, so I am not ready to spend an afternoon running in the rain. I live in a country (Japan) where rain is as common as the sunshine in my home state of Colorado, so I was checking the weather forecast and it looked like rain was coming my way. I wanted to get out and run before the rain. On Sunday I ran the Yasso 800’s and firmed up my plan, so on Tuesday I was debating either putting in the tempo run or a long run. As much as I dread the track work, the tempo runs probably bother me more, so I opted for the long run. I set my distance at 8K, since I have a course that I have mapped and this distance was marked and I also knew that I could make it. I consulted the plan for a target pace and set off.
Knowing that I have about 20 weeks until the event and realizing that I am really working on building a base and trying to not allow my exuberance push me into an injury, I tried to keep my pace down, but at my 5K turnaround point I was already nearly 30 seconds ahead of my most recent 2.5K time. Yet, I couldn’t slow more. Running deliberately slow to me is very difficult, and I have spent enough time previously with heartrate monitors (HRM), and stop watches with split timers, to just listen to my body and adjust my effort based on how I am feeling. As I have previously posted I used a HRM a long time ago, and now I just don’t feel like investing in that kind of tech, I do invest in other tech such as my collection of compression wear, and I don’t have a personal cell phone, so my timing is courtesy of my trusty Accusplit 620. 
It can take a split, but it does not store them. It’s good for a total time and that is all I need.
I made the turn at the 4K mark and the time showed about 23 minutes, and the target time for a run like this was about 57 minutes based on the goal I had established. Now I had not run this far in quite a while so I was concerned with running all the way to the end, and maintaining form. I feel I did a pretty good job, I tried to maintain pace and was not concerned with doing a negative split (I really like negatives, maybe a carryover from years of swimming), I just wanted to complete. As I turned the final corner there is a slight downhill and then up and left to the finish, I could feel the angle and crossed the line in 45m:33s.
Climbed the stairs to home, took a shower and layered on the compression wear. I had to get up and go to work the next day and I needed those legs to work! Last year I got a pair of CW-X Endurance Generator tights and I love them both during a run and after a run. The fabric is really like taping. I woke up the next morning ready for work. 
Looking at the times and the plans, I am going to have to take a long look at my goal time of 2 hours for the 10 miles. I think that I am simply running too fast already for that time to be a challenge. I am going to wait a couple weeks until I do that. I have a week coming up where I am going to be free to really engage in running and working out, and then I will also have some time in late July and early August, where I will have to make a strong effort to get a run in. I don’t think I will hurt my chances of success if I continue for a few weeks and then change the goal time, as long as I don’t wait until September!
My next run is scheduled for Thursday and it will be a tempo run. I am not sure when I will run, it will depend on the weather forecast. I may try to run at the track since that will give me my most accurate measure of distance. Until then – Still Running!
Still Running 