Warm Ups are So Important

Sometimes, our personalities can really hinder our running. Or maybe it's just me. I'm a very spontaneous person. I don't wait for anything. Traffic jams? Outta my way, why are you so slow? Ice storm schmise storm, I want to go for a sunday drive. Gotta have it, gotta have it NOW. The same was true for my running. I have brought my running clothes in a duffel bag to work for months, gotten dressed, hopped out of the car, and just started running after a short stretch. Yes friends, if you know me, this is no surprise. I ignore expert advice. Despite all common sense, I would just get up and run, with no warm ups...

So I decided to warm up the way I should have been for the past nine months, and BOY DID IT PAY OFF BIG TIME!

After running/walking for about 10-15 minutes, I started on my run.

Everything seemed NORMAL until I got to mile marker 1. My watch said 7:25. HOLY CRAP. That's by far the fastest mile I've ever run. In fact, it's a minute and five seconds faster! Woot!

I kept tugging along, totally at peace and with a comfortable stride until I got up a hill...I admit it, I had to suck it up and take a walk break, b/c this hill was HUGE and I need to work on that...so I figured a short walk break would improve my time. This hill was right before the 5k mark, so I kept going until I got to around 3.1. This time, the watch Read 23:19
I won't count this as a true 5K PR because my training called for 6 today and I didn't do the .1 of the 3.1. Ah well, what's 528 feet?

On to the rest... I was at halfway point. I turned around and hightailed it back. THIS is where I knew I was really cooking! I was really hitting my stride even more than before. That same place I mentioned always pooping out at...that one spot that made me crazy and where my mental collapse occured...was nothing. I flew right by it...TWICE!! At that point, all I had was about 2.5 miles. I passed a few runners and had all the energy in the world to say hello, "nice dog" etc. It was great. This is the way my body should always feel on runs. How I've WANTED it to feel for such a long time. I finished out the course up a huge hill at 48:18. My previous 10k was closer to 52 minutes. That's a 4 minute shave-off my time!!! Awesome!!!

Finally, I calculated my average pace, which was 8 minutes per mile. I felt (and still feel) awesome!! I now realize why I was struggling. YEAH! Had to share. So there you go folks, DONT RUN ON COLD MUSCLES!! your body NEEDS the warm up time, and you'll be a lot more comfortable on your runs.

Charlottesville Half, here I come!