Giving It My All

I'm sort of a half-asser when it comes to things, I will cut corners, procrastinate....waste time on FB. Little by slowly though I have begun to reverse that part of my personality.  I wouldn't say I'm becoming your typical type-a, perfectionist Virgo (I mean, I am on the cusp) but I'm getting there and it feels pretty good!

Last night I had a 6 mile speedwork run on the schedule.  In lives past I would just run 6 miles, dismissing the speedwork part. Or I would head for the hills, (not these hills) which to me counts and definitely shows progress but last night I decided to give it my all.  Never mind that giving it my all was still a few miles short...point is, I banged out the speedwork and I'm really proud of myself!

The prescribed plan was 6 miles, including warmup with 3 x 1600 in 8:47 w/800 jogs and a cool down. This seemed hard, I hate hard.  I knew I had to do the speedwork part, but 1600's!!?!?!  Yes, Liz, 1600's. I was super pressed for time as I had a date with my parents for a ball game which was a Father's Day gift so I had to get creative and figure out what would benifit me the most....so 1600's it was.

I ran a half mile to the track (warmup) then dove right in to the hard stuff. I hit my numbers, with an average pace of 8:41 but I am now the new positive split queen.  First mile was 8:22 with a quick jog to my water bottle then right back at it for I think a second mile of 8:30 followed by another quick jog to my water bottle followed by a much slower 3rd mile which was closer to 8:48.  I followed all of that with a half mile slow jog around the track and walked home.

It was hard, I was breathing like a freak and scared the really freaky guy out there with my loud wheezing/gasping thing but I did it.  It would have been so much easier for me to just run 4 miles and call it a day, but I tackled the hard stuff, I gave it my all and I finished stronger and prouder than when I first started.

If I want to meet my marathon goals (4:20 - 4:30 finish) then I have to do work, give it my all and not cut corners!  The cool thing is I'm getting there, progress not perfection!


Also....speedwork, 1 word or 2?  :)