Finding My Paces 

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With a new personal best of my 6:43 mile, it’s time in reevaluate what my tempo and recovery paces. First of all, I thought my best 5K time would be 25 minutes but I’m starting to build speed and I’m coming in around 23-24 minutes. I’m crushing it.

To find my paces, I’m putting myself at a best mile of 7 minutes. This would put my 5K time at 23:45 with an average of 7:40 per mile. That’s accurate. I’m running between 7:40-8:00/mile when I go out for my 5K runs. Which means, I should really run a 5K race again so that I can beat my PR. I’ve only ever ran one 5K race at the Starbucks a Run for Women, so it would probably be the perfect time to do it.

That would make my 10K time 49:00 with an average of 7:55/mile. My current 10K PR is 48:36. A good downhill race should break that.

The next pace makes me really happy. Half marathon pace = 8:20/mile and finishing in 1:50:00. This is my ultimate goal. My current half PR is 2:02:09. I could demolish my PR this fall. If I broke 2 hours, I would be over the moon.

My marathon time (which in all honesty I would just be happy to finish because it would be my first marathon and an automatic PR) would be a time of 3:45:00 and a pace of 8:35/mile.

Which brings me to my tempo pace of 8:15 and my recovery pace of 9:35.

These numbers aren’t scary to me and don’t feel out of reach. It just comes down to the ultimate question, what race do I want to run this fall? For 2 years, I have tried to run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon and something gets in the way every time I register. One year, I sprained A LOT of tendons and ligaments in the bottom of both my feet. But, I got to be a spectator for the first time and cheer my sister on! Last year, I ended up travelling for work and couldn’t run. If I don’t run STWM, I’m thinking of running the Niagara Falls Half Marathon. Or running the STWM half and then the Niagara 5K.

I’m so excited for the fall race training season and I need to commit to these races before it’s too late.

What races are you running this fall?

Do you recommend any races?

Speed Run vs Long Run

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I’ve always been the runner who goes for distance. Short, fast runs were never my thing. Atleast, I thought they weren’t. I like to find my happy pace and just plug along but I also love to challenge myself. This could be why I am lover of the long run. 13.1 miles is my favourite. Give me a half marathon and I feel challenged, tired and happy at the end. Unless, we are talking about my first half marathon. Then, you would find me wanting to cry under a tree in Mexico after midnight.

Live and learn.

I started challenging myself and going out for speed. I would do this on my own but it wasn’t until I started running with other people that I was truly pushing myself to get faster and faster. When I was running solo, a 9 minute mile was my goal. Now, I’m running an average of 7:40-8 minute miles consecutively. I’m picking up speed and starting to really love short, fast runs. For the first time ever, I ran a one mile for time. My shortest distance yet. It was a personal best (also my first, so of course it would be). My high expectation goal was to finish in 7 minutes. This seemed out of reach but I like to dream big. The first two laps felt good. I was really keeping up my pace and the third lap- I just wanted it to end. The fourth lap, I knew I was almost there but it felt so hard to dig deep and go faster. With a quarter of the lap left, I managed to pick up speed and gasp for air after crossing the finish line. After guzzling water and catching my breath, I checked my time. 6:43. One mile in 6:43! I was in shock. The fastest I have ever ran a mile. The difference with this one mile? I didn’t check my Garmin once.

Sometimes I feel that if I didn’t check my Garmin all the time during runs, I would run faster. It’s important to disconnect. Like yesterday’s thought on finding balance. There needs to be a balance of running for time and running for fun. I think I’ve found my happy running balance and it exists with short speedy runs and long runs combined.

Happy running!

Keeping a Run/Life/Work Balance

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Over the last 5 months, I’ve decided to disconnect and recharge myself. I stopped blogging not because I didn’t want to any more but because I needed to slow down. Learning how to mix a run/life/work balance can be tough. Looking at my Garmin for my pace and splits was enough for me and keeping my journal of my fitness journey sat on the back burner as  I fit in more time to make plans with friends. And more time for short, long and speed runs.

When I got back to writing, my blog came to an end with the server I was using and I wanted to make a switch. With the switch, I lost a lot of my posts. My posts now go back from 2010 to 2012 and I’m missing 3 years on here. My perfectionist self would be best up about that but I’m learning to let go. I ran it off and realized when I was reading my old posts that I have come so far from training for my first half marathon to now. 5 years later. I cannot believe it has been that long since I started falling in love with running and documenting my journey along the way. Running has been my outlet. It’s my time to think. It’s where I get away from my day to day stresses and it’s where I push myself and learn that I am stronger than I think I am. I took a break from writing to make running feel like my escape again. I also did it to maintain my run/life/work balance.

I try to do it all. It’s my nature. Train for a half marathon, train to go to The Cheerleading Worlds, coach cheer teams and go to post-grad to start a new career all at the same time. It burns you out. I know this first hand but yet I always try to cram as much as I can. Sometimes it’s because I want to do all the things I love and sometimes it’s because I don’t want to let people down. Either way, it’s exhausting and I’ve learned to balance my life.

Running with friends is great because I get to be social and talk while I run, which helps my breathing, makes the time go by faster and pushes me to keep running even when I feel like stopping. But when I get to run solo, it feels completely different. My mind can relax, I get into my zone and feel the runner’s high. It also gives me the opportunity to shut off. It’s seems so hard to make time for myself. Deep down I feel guilty for taking time to do things just for me. And that is what I need to work on the most. That run/work/life balance seems to be overwhelming at times but it’s important to take a step back, relax and let go of the unknowns in life.

New adventures for the new season.

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On my last post, I mentioned all of the changes that have happened in my life. I am now a high honours post graduate in public relations, I coached an amazing season with my cheerleaders who not only won the provincial championships but the Canadian Finals and took home the Grand Champ banner and I competed at the cheerleading worlds and came in first in Canada and 8th in the world.

Life is pretty amazing right now.

In between it all, I was still running races. For the first time, I ran purely for fun. I wasn’t caught up with PR’s or my time. Mainly because I was too busy to even get myself to the gym some days and running was the only time I had to breath by myself. It was my escape from assignments, working and stress.

I decided to spring clean my blog. In the fall, my hosting site is shutting down some services so I thought, what better time to change up my page then now? I’m so exited for my new adventures. Now that I have less on my plate, I can start training for my first marathon and actually blog along the way. It’s time for me to start building my 26.2 training plan!

Happy long weekend!