Faster Than I've Been

Tonight was the usual LVRR Group Run.  I often forget to check the guest list for the run on the LVRR website.  I remembered this week and saw we had 3 women signed up.  I arrived 5 minutes before the start of the run because I was running late.  Maybe they already came and took off.  I don't know, but they weren't there.

Because of the women RSVPing, I figured it would an easy run.  Instead, it ended up being the most I've pushed myself since taking the end of December off.  A guy named Jerry, that showed up when we first moved the run here, came out again.  I remember him being pretty fast and having to push it a bit last time.  He said he ran earlier, so he wasn't sure if he could do much.

It was the usual cold weather evening.  The temperature was around freezing the freezing mark with a wind chill in the lower 20s.  I asked for a lightweight long sleeve shirt for Christmas and I wore it today.  It is definitely lightweight as my arms were freezing when we stood around.  It was so bad that I was actually hoping no one would show up and I wouldn't have to run.  I still wore my fleece vest, gloves, a headband and hat to go along with my tights.  That gave me some warmth.  I actually knew I'd be pretty good once we started running, but standing around for 10 to 15 minutes is brutal.

We started off on the usual route.  I kind of let Jerry dictate the pace.  I usually do that and if someone wants me to push it more, I will.  We chatted a lot about running as usual.  He was telling me that he wants to improve his 5K time by about 1:30 in the next couple months.  I'm certainly someone that believes in setting high goals, so I wouldn't question him for that.  I should be able to shave that much time off too.

The wind was tough near SteelStacks and especially when we ran over the Hill to Hill Bridge over the Lehigh River.  It gets so much warmer once we get into town.  One thing that has been good about this run is that even though it is through town, we usually haven't had to stop at lights very long.  We did for a little while today.

I think my watch might've been off by a little in the beginning again.  I'm not sure why it seems to be having so much trouble with satellites lately.  It felt like we were fast and I'm pretty confident that the first mile wasn't over a 9 minute pace.  At one point around mile 2, my watch read 8:34 pace.  I commented how it felt like we were going faster and we must have been.

Climbing up Broad Street can be a little tough, especially when I'm pushed like today.  I was definitely breathing heavy.  I haven't run even a moderate paced run in almost 2 months.  Everything has been easy.  I'm just trying to get stronger and stay healthy.  I think I would call today's pace moderate.

Heading towards Wawa on Broad Street is downhill and that was a nice recovery.  Jerry really started flying and pulling ahead of me.  I could've kept up, but didn't want to push it too much.  I have a race scheduled for Saturday and couldn't afford to kill myself today.

I let him go and he was well ahead of me as we got to the Minsi Trail Bridge.  I continued to run the same way up the bridge and suddenly I gained ground on Jerry.  I noticed that mile 3 was a fast 7:17.  It didn't seem too hard though. 

I caught up to Jerry and told him if he felt good to take off.  Clearly he was struggling though.  He was breathing heavy, like I had been earlier.  I was feeling good.  I guess I'm in a lot better shape than I give myself credit for.  I think my hill running at Trexler over the last couple weeks is really starting to pay off.  Maybe that will be the secret to really getting faster this spring.

Since Jerry flew down the previous hill, I thought he would pass me back on the last downhill into the Sands area.  He never did though.  I kind of wish he would've.  When I'm ahead of someone, I have a habit of maybe pushing it a little more.  If he would've went by me, maybe I would've slowed down.

The 4th mile was a solid 7:37.  I am very happy with that.  We finished up with just over 4 miles in the books.  It was a good run because I ran a little faster and with more effort than I had been, but I didn't kill myself.

Tomorrow is an off day.  I'll appreciate the rest after a long run yesterday and somewhat hard run today.  I'm scheduled to run the Warm Hearts 5K on Saturday in Nazareth.  It's not looking good though.  The forecast is calling for a lot of snow Friday night on into Saturday morning.  I can't imagine it being clear by race time.

I kind of wish I could run a race in the snow, but at the same time, I would like to see how fast I am now.  Today's time was a big boost.  I think there may be a chance that I could run around a 6:45 pace for a 5K.  I could possibly even go under 6:30.  Originally, I was hoping to go under 20 minutes in this race, but that was before taking so much time off in December.  Now, I have ideas of what I'd like to do, but no real expectations.  I am just going to run on feel and not worry about time.  The big question will be whether I can sustain a hard effort for over 3 miles.

4.25 miles - 34:03 (8:01 pace)