5 x 1 mile
Mood:  happy
Topic: Marathon
I got up early this morning and managed to get my workout in before the sun was too high in the sky. Today was a simple 5 times 1 mile workout, and it was fun. I did the first mile following a 1 min. walk, 1 min. run sequence. Mile two was run two minutes, walk one; mile three was run three minutes, walk one; mile four was run four minutes, walk one; and I ran mile five without a walk break. With each minute of running that I added, I took between 30 and 45 seconds off my mile time, which doesn't seem like very much. Turns out I ran mile three at about the same pace I ran mile five, so it obviously pays to take walk breaks. Today's optimal ratio was running four minutes and walking one.

Unfortunately, my time for mile four was still well over 14 minutes per mile, so it looks like I have to get used to the idea that I may need to be bussed over the bridge at mile 20 in the marathon. There is still some time that I think I can shave over the next ten weeks, but it's going to take discipline. Next weekend I increase the mileage to 23. I'm hoping to do 23 in the time it took me to do 20 two weeks ago.

Despite the humidity that was already present at 6:00 a.m., I really enjoyed the workout. I think making a game of it with each mile being a different ratio made it more fun. Mentally, it was easier to run five miles that way than it would have been if I'd just set out to run five miles. And I had no asthma attack, so I'm considering using this same build-up strategy in the actual marathon, peaking at run 4, walk 1 and holding that pattern for as long as I can. (I'm going to experiment with run 5, walk 1 and run 6, walk 1 this week to see if they improve my time enough to warrant using either of those ratios.) I'll try that next weekend and see how well I hold up.

And in other news, I think I have to somehow find the reserves to hold myself to a better eating plan. After two weeks of feeling fairly strong, confident, and optimistic (what Hans has labeled a manic phase), I crashed on Friday night and the slump lasted through most of Saturday. It started with me feeling what I refer to as "free floating guilt" which is just a nagging feeling that I've done something wrong, but I'm not sure what it is. This usually happens if I've had too much caffeine to drink. I've given up drinking caffeine, with the occasional exception of a single 20 oz. bottle, because I've tested this theory enough that I've finally convinced myself of its truth. However, on Thursday and Friday I binged on chocolate covered donuts and then was surprised to find myself responding to the caffeine from the chocolate when I got home Friday night. I'm going to talk to my new therapist about hypnosis, and then either try to schedule a few sessions with her or with the therapist in Carrboro that I met at the Book Festival back in May. Either that or look into a Greensboro meeting of OA, but if I can avoid that, I want to.

Today has been better. I think the run was a great way to start off the day. Then Hans and I went to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin this afternoon, which was a lot of fun, and a good way to relax. I'm a little nervous about my therapy session tomorrow morning because I have less of an idea what to expect, but I'm looking forward to this week. Sudie and I have been getting a ton of work done, and I've got some good momentum with the marathon training, and I'm hoping that this week will just build on all of that.