A Sub 7 Minute Mile ... Finally

Back in high school, I had to take PE for only one year ... I was a sophomore. So we had to run the mile for the National Fitness Test or whatever it is called. I can't remember. Anyway, I'm a pretty competitive person so despite the fact that I didn't run back then, I decided on the day of the mile that I'd just try and keep up with the fastest girl in the class. Now, most of my class didn't care how long it took them ... well mostly the girls. So it was basically just the two of us for the girls that really ran. I remember that I managed to run the mile in 6:53 that day. Then I didn't run again.

Since I've started running again, I've tried to run a mile all out only a few times ... but I haven't been able to break a 7 minute mile. I know, crazy that I did it in high school when it didn't matter that much to me and now that I care, I can't do it. So my boyfriend wanted to go to the track this weekend and I was like sure ... I could use a change in pace and scenery. So after my speedwork on Thursday, I did a slowwwww recovery run on Friday going by heartrate only. I've grown to realize how important these recovery runs are ... but that's another post for another day. Anyway, by doing that nice recovery run on Friday my body was ready for Saturday. So we get to the track around 9, it's HOT and HUMID and the sun is beating down. I start with a warm up mile (10:xx pace) and feel sluggish. I feel like I don't have it in me today but I'm going to try anyway. The boyfriend has always been able to run the mile faster than me, so he's going to pace me and I'm going to use him to draft so that I can hopefully get my sub 7 minute mile finally.

So we start out, I had put my Garmin on the opposite arm than I usually wear it and facing in so that it's harder for me to glance at constantly ... I don't want the distraction and I just want to push myself. So after one lap of the track, I finally look down and we're going 5:55 pace ... I yell up at the BF, you're going sub 6 pace ... and he gradually slows down a little. The next lap and a half slow a little and then I get fed up about 2/3s of the way through the mile and pass the boyfriend ... I just had more than him that day, which is unusual. It probably helped that he had been pacing me. So I run the next lap and a halfish by myself ... and I finish in 6:48!!! I was thrilled.

After the mile, we did some other sprints and hills, then cooled down. While I was cooling down, my boyfriend made friends with the kindest elderly man who had been doing laps, he is 87 and looks about 70! He walks the track to stay in shape and he was so nice and talkative. I told him I only want to live to 87 if I'm as active as he still was!

I haven't run since Saturday since I'm having some minor ankle pain that I'm babying. I had a massage today and I'll put arnica gel and ice on it tonight. I'm hoping for a good early morning progression run tomorrow.

Injuries, Track and 5ks

I've been a little MIA the last few days. After my run on Saturday, I started having some sharp pain in my left foot. Ugh. So I rested it and iced it. The pain didn't go away so I went to my doctor on Tuesday, praying it wasn't a stress fracture.. And it wasn't! Just a ligament strain. My doctor is a triathlete so she understood my worrying but assured me I could run this week, which is good because I have the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k this weekend. I'm really excited for this race, since I'm doing it in memory of my Meemom (grandmother), who passed away 2 years ago after battling breast cancer. I'm really hoping I can PR.

So I didn't run Monday due to my foot. But yesterday after work, the boyfriend and I headed to the track. I wanted to see how fast I could run 1 mile. The first track we headed to is closed for repairs apparently, although there was someone on it. But the sign said closed and we didn't want to disobey so we headed to another track. I did a mile warmup, pretty slowly. Then stretched out before my fast mile. I just wanted a 7 minute mile even though in high school without training I was faster than that. So I ran my 1 mile in exactly 7:00, blah. I want to get faster. I know I said it was my goal but I really was hoping for faster. Oh well something to improve on. After my mile time trial, I did one cool down lap of walking and then 1 800, followed by 400 recovery and a mile cool down. It was a pretty good workout although the track was quite dark when we finished. There are lights that supposedly can be turned on but we couldn't get them to work. Luckily, my mom knows the Athletic Director, so we'll contact him and see if we can figure it out since the track is really nice, they recently redid it and I'd love to be able to use it more but I need some light. 

My foot didn't hurt too bad at all during the running and I iced it last night. Today it felt fine, so I think it's on the mend! I've actually been writing this blog post all day and it's taken me all day. I had a work conference today so the boyfriend dropped me off at the train at 7:20 and I headed to it. I got off the train and was crossing an intersection when my boss pulled up beside me in her car so I didn't have to walk the 10 blocks to the conference in heels at least. It was really good timing! The conference was good but very long. The food was excellent, which I appreciated. After the conference ended at 4, we had to head back to work since both my boss and I had class tonight and we work on campus. I just quickly checked in, changed and headed to my Epidemiology review session from 5-6, and then I had Epidemiology from 6-8:45. I kept updating the post throughout all of this on my phone and I'm finally getting around to tweaking it and posting it. I'm off to bed now. I've got 2-3 easy miles on the schedule tomorrow and then my 5k Saturday!