Doing well

For the first time after the ankle incident about a couple of weeks ago I took the intensity up by a notch.  Everything came together very well.  The weather was below 50 F (around 10 C) when I started and stayed cool throughout.  I took off faster than usual, and hesitated for a minute whether or not to follow the momentum. Finally, I thought what the heck, I will slow down if required later and just let me have a go at it today. Not overdoing it, but took up the pace and intensity to a moderately hard level.  Paid a lot of attention on my downhill runs and flats to make sure I'm taking enough steps per minute and the feet are landing right under my hips.  As I wrote yesterday, focused also on the arm swing as that gives, or it feels like it gives, a bit of propulsive energy. There was just one walker on the road today, as a testament to the colder weather. There was also a strong breeze when i started, which i didn't notice once on the course winding down and up between the rolling hills.

I had the feeling I was running faster than I should be, but I wasn't feeling much exertion. So I didn't fully realize how fast.  At the end of the run, I had clocked 9 min. 6 secs. per mile, which is about 15 - 30 secs. faster than my usual runs on this course.  The ankle held up very well throughout.  I have never run at this pace on daily runs. The fastest till now was about 9:12 per mile. For regular runs, one doesn't need to go all out. Perhaps, shouldn't. Race times for the same distance (10K) are faster by 00:40 secs to 01:10 secs per mile for me compared to my usual training pace. However, one shouldn't read too much into these numbers as every course is different, not to mention the fact that I am not tracking finish time as I am not training for speed at all. The focus is on building the strength and stamina to go the distance.  Having said all that, I must admit that I did feel good about the pace and the fact that the ankle held up to it.  More ice today and tomorrow as gratitude or reward to the ankle! Rest tomorrow. Next run on Friday.

Keep going, and have fun!