A Blustery Run - the Wind is Back!

Today is a cold, rainy, blustery day. Great running weather.  Also great weather for curling up in a big cozy bed for a nap, but unfortunately, that's not on my to-do list today. 

I did however, go for a run.  It was cold enough when I left that although I was wearing my running tights and a tee shirt, I was wishing for a sweatshirt - I was so glad to finally have a chill before I started running! 

On the schedule for today - 22 minutes. As I started running, I could feel myself going a bit fast because it was chilly.  That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but I recently read that if you start off slow, it delays the build-up of lactic acid, which is what causes fatigue.  So I kept trying to focus on slowing myself down.  Sometimes, the wind helped with that, because it was blowing hard enough to take my breath away today.  Lovely.  I remembered how much I really hate that first mile and kept hoping that the second mile would be better.  I did eventually find a good pace, which surprised me, because it's been a while since I've felt like I've settled into a pace at all.  Usually, it's a lot of huffing and puffing and being convinced that I'm going to die and then slowing down to walk and mentally beating myself up for not being able to run when it's humid and hot.  But today, I felt more comfortable, finally - yay!  I did end up with a stitch in my side for the second run in a row, but since I'm not eating right before I run, I think it must be that my breathing is not where it's supposed to be because I'm out of practice.  Hopefully that will come back soon and I can  pick up the pace a bit. 

I ran the entire 22 minutes, which made me very happy that I've been setting and achieving my goals for each run.  I managed 2 miles in 22:02, or an 11:01 pace - still slower than I'd like, but I'll get there.  Once I'm up to regular 35 minute runs, I'll throw in some speed work.

Friday is my last run at home before I head to my parents for the weekend, a run up there on Monday, and then a business trip to Athens!  Since it's hilly there, I've already checked to see that they have a very nice gym at the hotel, and hopefully I can sneak in a couple of runs while I'm there, so I don't lose my momentum.  I still don't feel like I've been the same runner since I missed that week of running in June for our San Francisco conference.  So we'll see how it goes!