Considering the fact that we needed to pack enough stuff for Polly, the baby and me for a whole week and taking into account the fact that I only have a Subaru Legacy (not an especially big car), the jogging stroller didn't make the cut of things to bring with us on vacation. In actuality, it's tough enough to fit the jogging stroller in the car without everything else (I have to remove the front wheel to make it fit [it's designed to do this quite conveniently]). Not being able to take the jogger meant that I couldn't run with Genevieve for a whole week. Considering the fact that our race is only slightly more than a month away (9/10/11), this reality was not incredibly helpful. If anything, I need to be increasing my training with the stroller, not decreasing it. But, there was no legitimate alternative solution. Chalk that one up to "such is life." This truth made the importance of getting out there and running with the stroller more of a priority.
Out of a need for some overtime at work (especially after a week of vacation) I chose to work 3 overtime shifts this week. That means that there are only three days I can run this week. One of those days was yesterday. As I was on my way home, the weather seemed reasonable (not too hot, too cold or raining). I called Polly and told her that I needed to run with the baby. Polly informed me that my schedule for doing so was tight because Genevieve was tired from waking up too early from her previous nap.
I got home, changed quickly, grabbed the baby and got ready to run. Genevieve gets cranky when she's tired. She wasn't cranky at the moment, but the longer I took the more tired she could be.The pressure was on. The faster I ran, the faster Polly could put the baby down for her nap (of course, she could have slept in the jogger if she was really that tired).
So, I was in a rush. Being in a rush meant that I had to run at a "fast enough" pace. Running with a jogger has been new to me. I am slower when I run with it than without. I don't think I need to explain why this is the case. Each time I have run with it (3 times now), I have run the same 2.2 mile route (more about that and the issue there in a moment). Here are my times for the first two 2.2 mile jogging stroller runs leading up to yesterday:
Run 1: 21:46
Run 2: 19:48
Before I tell you about yesterday's run, let me get to the issue of the route. It's a 2.2 mile loop around my house. The route is hilly (which is good for training, harder on time), but that's certainly not an issue. I enjoy running hills. The issue is that I haven't ventured a farther distance yet because it's the only area around my house I feel safe enough running with her (we don't have sidewalks in my back-woodsy location). The reason this is an issue is because the race is 4 miles longer than this route. I would like to run at least the 10k distance prior to the race, and my preference would actually be to go for 10 miles. There is a bike path 20 minutes away that I can go to, but I need the time to do that (the time to get there and back as well as the time to run the farther distance). Being in a rush certainly didn't leave me the option of venturing out on this occasion. So, that's why I once again stuck to this route.
Since I can't improve the distance until my (and Genevieve's) schedule allows, I need to work on getting faster and pushing harder. So, I tried to go at a decent pace yesterday. Running faster up hills is a great workout...and really tiring. I ended up shaving another minute yesterday making it 3 minutes since the first run:
Run 3: 18:46
I would like to run the entire 6.2 miles (10k) in 8:00 minute miles. This means 4 more miles at a slightly faster pace than yesterday. That's a lot to achieve in the course of a month. But I'm confident that with God's help, I will accomplish that goal. I had been taking it pretty easy to this point (even yesterday), but I want to go take it from being a jogging stroller to being a running stroller. Who likes to "jog" anyway?
For the record, Genevieve ate and immediately conked out upon our return...
No comments:
Post a Comment