Goals, Goals, Goals

Sometimes the way I get through my runs is setting goals, or in some cases, standards. When I set out this morning I wanted to meet my standard of 5 miles in 40 minutes. For those of you who know my SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures), this usually is not a problematic goal for me. But...

A lot has been posted lately about tapers. Taper this and taper that, >>whaah!<< href="http://blog.runnerslounge.com/2008/09/take-it-and-r-1.html">Runner's Lounge have been blogging about their tapers: Coffee Betsy, Ben, Run For Life, Half-marathon taper. But I am not on a taper. I did have a brief lay-off from my running due to to work getting in the way and wearing me down, but it was in no way a planned taper from my mileage.

So why am I getting all the aches lately? Why do I feel "phantom pains"? Shouldn't a three day hiatus have helped me feel better an heal some?

The only thing it has done has made me want to get out the door and shake the run out. accept that the week will not be a high mileage week and get the most out of what I can do. So this morning I headed out the door ...

With a goal to exceed the standard. And then some more, get to 8 miles in 1 hour. Then try not to die out and complete the last part of my run in a decent time.

Sorry, no pictures today. I was attempting to be in gazelle mode today. I think that I could have used a bit more fuel in my body from last night, but overall I continued to run through a whining phantom pain in my ankle.

1st goal. The splits were good: 5 miles in 36:59.99. Ok, alright ... 37:00. Flat. But that is at an average 7:24 per mile time.

2nd goal. I hit 8 in 59:39, which was an average of 7:33 per mile.

3rd goal. Don't suck at the end. 9.38 in 70:57. The last mile plus accomplished with a avg. pace of 8:13. Mixed results, but it was a solid effort, and I didn't fall into cool down zone.

Random quip: Number of people I ran by who were out: running=2, cycling=4, walking or jogging with a dog=3.

Of note: The orange accented Mizuno shoes I got for longer runs and races has surpassed the mileage on the shoes I did my half marathon and early training runs in. I think that my blue Mizuno's have been passed for a couple of reasons. My knees seem to hurt when I use them for longer runs, I think due to the fact that the sole may have been compressed in transpo from Iraq to here. Because of the damage to the toe box, I can not use them at work (they would be considered unserviceable.) I use a third pair of shoes for work, and never intended them to do 8 in one day like yesterdays tomfoolery.

Bottom line: 9.38 miles in 1:10:57 at an average 7:34 pace.