DaY 63 - 18 days to go - conversation is overrated...

With heavy clouds overhead this morning and the threat of rain on the horizon, I took my four miles to a treadmill today.  I must say that four miles inside is the worst.  I feel like my long runs it's a necessity because I require so many props right now (water, gatorade, towel, CPR kit in case of emergency...) and three miles goes pretty quick but four miles is just long enough to be boring inside.

Inspired (and a wee bit jealous) of my friend Ulla who recently started running too - and who just blogged about being able to run a ten minute mile -- influenced me  to work on speed today to keep things interesting and challenging.

I know I broke the rule of being able to have a comfortable conversation more than once today.  I kept pushing myself to run for several minutes between 5.0-5.5 -- the trouble was that my "recovery" time also had to increase and by the end of the work-out my overall running time was still about 4.44 mph.  It's not a bad number, I suppose.   The same four miles I did last week averaged at 4.2 mph so it's wee bit faster.  Guess that's part of the journey.  I can't wait to be running a consistent 5 mph.  I feel like that's "real" running.  Even though I have the red face, sweat soaked gym clothes and panting to prove that 4.44 is no stroll in the park (for me at least.)

I know I've talked about the site before but to reiterate, mapmyrun -- is free and awesome.  I love that I can even keep track of my workout stats with it.  For example, I can see that we are not even half way through April and I've already logged 41.16 miles and burned 4,549 calories!!  Holy crap, that's motivating and exciting!  

Training Summary: April 2010

Total Distance:41.16 mi.	Total Calories:4,549 (kcal)	Weight Change:2.0 lbs.
Average Sleep:7 hrs.	Average Morale:High	Min. / Max.:172.0 lbs. / 174.0 lbs.

April 2010

So that's all I got... the next time I write about running it'll be because I ran nine miles.  UGH.  Not gonna lie, that sounds a little bit like hell.  But I also know that nothing is going to be sweeter than once I can put that one under my belt!!

XO

Jen