Coach Davis scheduled today's workout at the Arboretum. I was so happy that she did!! Giddyup! There are two challenging loops there and they are great training ground for the hills of Newton in Boston. Not to mention that it is just so beautiful out there that you fall in love with the place. I do a lot of photography there when I am not running and it is amazing how differently I see things when my concentration is focussed in another area.
I could not have asked for a more gorgeous day to run in in March. Wow. It was so beautiful on my way to the Arboretum this morning that my legs were jumping with excitement. The temperature on my drive was in the high 30's but the sun; oh the sun was so beautiful to see. It was supposed to warm up to the high 50's later in the day. Magical. Spring is coming. The wind was going to be a challenge, but I am not going to complain. You could just smell the freshness in the air. Today's workout was going to be fun. I couldn't wait to begin.
Today's workout was Tempo with Hills at Arboretum - Negative Split
Now, if you want to dog it on your first lap, running a negative split can be easy. But, to keep me honest, I also used a heart rate monitor to be sure that I was exerting enough energy on each of my laps. So, if I fell below 140-144 beats, I was dogging it and the same could be said for 148 on the second lap. There are so many great things about running here, that there are too many to name. However, the bad part about knowing the grounds so well, is that I also know the distances back to the lot by different markers or trees along the way. So, that can make a run interesting when you know how hard you can push it based on how much farther you have to run.
I lined up to do the East Side which runs 4.5 miles from the lot and knew that on the way back I would need to run under the bridge almost to the base of the hill on the West side to complete the full 5 miles. 5 miles is 5 miles. Just Do It. Off I went and attacked hill after hill, not letting up but paying close attention to my pace and my HR. The wind was strong and making some of the hill climbs challenging but thats life. If you want to get better, you need to suck it up and perform. Nothing worth having in life is easy. I kept up my pace and hit the 5 mile mark feeling good. A quick check of my watch revealed:
5 miles run
8:20 pace
AVG HR 144
Time: 41:47:91
Now, this was going to be the fun run. I knew what I had to beat to run a negative split. I had just run the route, so my legs were warmed up and ready to roll. I took off and headed to the hills again. I was more focussed on my HR than my pace. I knew that I was pushing it going up the hills and I wanted to be sure that I was working harder on the down side. I figured if I kept my HR in check, the pace would follow. The winds on the second loop had picked up a bit only for part of the route so that was a relief. The sun had been out for awhile so I was beginning to work up a sweat and took my gloves off. Before I knew it, I was heading back to the underpass and the hill base on the other side. Click. Stopped my watch. And the results are:
5 mile run
8:01 pace
AVG HR 148
Time: 40:05:57
Yeah baby....Negative split. Beat my first loop by 1 min 42 sec. Matched my HR goals and reached my coach's mark by 1+ minute. It was a great ride home. Windows down, tunes blaring on the radio, a Recovery Bar in my hand and a bottle of water next to me. I was living the life.
You know what the "NeverKwits" say....Every day is a great day to run.
Nike Plus Run the Earth Challenge
Started at 2529th place
Moved up to 2513th place
Move up 16 places! Living life...1 mile at a time!
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