10k test

My plan for Saturday was to run a 5-mile test run with my Garmin, at a pace that didn't feel extremely easy, without stopping. This was to give me an idea of how I should pace myself at the Crescent City Classic next Saturday, so I won't zoom out of the gate and end up throwing up somewhere on Esplanade Avenue.

It was an incredibly beautiful day Saturday, sunny and so crisp that I actually wore long sleeves to run (Friday night we had to turn the heat on in the living room. On March 27th! That's the latest we've ever used the heat while living here! Or it was until we turned it on Saturday night...the 28th.).

I turned my Garmin on and saw my last recorded run - November 27th. That was last Thanksgiving, at the quite-painful Turkey Day race. That 305 certainly is a trusty little machine: it's been off four months, and it came on with a nearly-full battery and found a satellite right away.
I haven't run on the levee in months, because I've been running such short distances (it's about a mile and a half to get to the levee; I'd just have to turn right back around for 3 miles, my max distance so far). With my whopping 5 mile run planned, I thought today would be a good day to run up onto the Fly (the area on the river behind Audubon Zoo) and continue briefly onto the levee. So with that in mind, I headed around Audubon Park.

What a lovely sight: sun AND a paved road! 

I didn't look at my Garmin while running, but I kept my pace at "uncomfortably easy" - not exactly a tempo run, but conversation would have been short and choppy. Nothing bothered me except for that same awareness of both hips. But my plans to run the levee were foiled: a train track cuts right across the entrance and exit to the Fly, and a train was stopped dead right at the point where you can exit the Fly, either to continue on the levee, or to head back to the park. Now, it wasn't blocking my way to the levee, but the train was  long, and at a complete halt, and I didn't want to stop on my pace test. I knew there was a good chance of it still being there when I turned around on the levee and came back, and I'd have to stop. So instead I turned around and headed back the way I came.

Doing that added quite a bit to my run, so I went over 5 miles, but my run-without-stopping was only five. I ran into a friend just as my Garmin beeped for mile 5, so we stopped and talked for a minute before I continued home. Interestingly, I was EXACTLY at 6.2 when I got home! So I am quite confident, now, that I can finish the 10k race next week!

Anyway. Let's talk about pace. It was much faster than I first thought. I was basing my previous pace off my time gone from the house running (since I wasn't wearing a watch), but since that included walk breaks, it wasn't very helpful. I was thinking close to ten minute pace, but it's more like eight. My splits today were: 8:06, 7:43, 7:43, 7:46, 7:31(short break), 7:27. It took me a few minutes to warm up, so I will make sure to warm up first on race day, and perhaps push it a little more? I'm sure 7:30s wouldn't be a stretch. I could definitely have gone faster, but no lie - I was certainly working. Crazy how fast you lose it! But also crazy that you can get it back. I'm not worried about speed right now. I'm more worried on keeping both legs attached and functioning.