This is going to be a fast post! Bedtime is fast approaching but before bed, Dan and I are going to set up the computer so we can watch Netflix on the big monitor which is kind of a process, so I need to blog FAST. Which is apropos because this post is about my run, which was fast!

My workout was a 15 minute warm up, 15 minutes of running at 10k pace/effort, 5 minutes of easy jogging, another 15 minute interval of 10k pace/effort, then a cool down till I got home. The idea was to do this run first thing in the morning but Sweet Pea had other plans for me. She was up for the second night in a row around 12:30am and 5:00am. Honestly, I don’t think fatigue was the issue, it was more mental; just knowing I’d been up not once, but twice in the night is very hard for me to handle. First world problem, I know… (Dan, you need not point this out).

So I moved the workout to this evening. I am grateful to have this flexibility. Dan arrived home from work and within minutes, I was out the door, racing against the clock; hoping to avoid nightfall (which I did, mostly), and wanting to get back before Sweet Pea’s bedtime so I could nurse (which I also did). Mentally, I was feeling good. Despite the unfortunate aftermath of an ill-timed decaf Americano and a chocolate chip cookie this afternoon, which resulted in mild bloating and a slight tummy ache, I was excited to get out on this cool day. It didn’t hurt that I had on my new Lucy Hoodie, which is not only comfortable, cute, reflective, and purple, but it has the added bonus of being found on the sale rack! Wait, it gets better- it has pockets! It’s the little things…

Run Stats: I covered 7.68 miles in a hair under an hour and seven minutes. My pace for the first 15 minute interval was 7:37/mile (slight downhill) and my pace for the second 15 minute interval was 7:50/mile (slight uphill). I realized somewhere along the way that this workout is pretty much identical to 2 miles at tempo pace x 2 with a short jog recovery, but that’s ok. That said, I think I ran a little faster at 10k pace than I would have at just tempo pace, because tempo, at least as far as I understand it, really is referring to perceived exertion, whereas, if you’ve run a 10k recently and you have a Garmin or you know the mileage of your course, 10k pace is what it is and you know if you need to be running faster.

Mentally, it feels different to run according to time versus mileage. Do you agree?  Do you have a preference for running fast over a certain time duration versus a certain distance?