Week 3 Re-Cap

Hooray, another week down, and so much closer to my goal. Before I recap the last two days of the week (Saturday and Sunday), here are the new numbers.

My Week 3 Totals are:
Total Number of Runs Logged: 6
Total Miles Logged: 37.4
Total Time Spent Running: 4 Hours, 35 minutes, and 2 seconds
Average Pace: 7:21 min/mile

That brings my new "as of" total to:
Total Number of Runs Logged: 22
Total Miles Logged: 121.3
Total Time Spent Running: 15 hours, 19 minutes, and 38 seconds
Average Pace: 7:35 min/mile

As you can tell, 23 days into my first month, and I've already surpassed my monthly goal of 100 miles. I'll keep my goal "as is" for now, because I know as the year progresses, I'll dedicate more time to the Triathlons on Guam, as well as other activities. Until then, I'll continue to reap the benefits of running.

Alright, so Saturday morning, I left Guam early in the AM, and after about 18 hours of flying, layovers, and more flying, I arrived in San Antonio, TX mid-morning on Saturday (got to love the time change). For the next two weeks I'll be at Lackland studying AF Logistics. Not long after arriving in SA (but after I had eaten a feast of a Mexican Meal) I decided it would probably be a good idea to get a run in. This was not only to combat the food I had just eaten, but also to get my legs loosened up after sitting for so long (plus remember I was still feeling guilty about not running on Friday). While not as cold as other areas of the country, SA is a good 20-30 degrees colder in Guam. Similar to my Hong Kong experience, I noticed an increased effort in my breathing as I was sucking in the cold air. It wasn't overly difficult, but it was very different than what I was used too. Still after my Saturday PM run of 6+ miles, I noticed that I had managed to keep a good pace throughout the run (about 7:23 min/mile). Perhaps, while there was perceived increase in effort, there was no really increased exertion of energy.

On Sunday morning I went for run around 9:30, during which time I completely smashed my perception of cold weather running. Given that I had flown for most of the day yesterday, was still operating (mentally) in a different time zone, and was facing a different climate, I was expecting to struggle. When I looked at my GPS watch around the 5 mile point I noticed that less than 35 minutes had elapsed. 3.5 miles later (bringing my total run to 8.5 miles), my clock said 58:41, a 6:54 min/mile pace. Now, I've run faster before, but for that distance, I cannot recall the last time I maintained a pace below 7 minutes. To go from a 7:14 pace on an 8-mile run earlier in the week, to a sub-7 min pace is pretty darn remarkable. I would expect improvement, but not on that scale, so I have to attribute my speed to the cold weather. We'll see over the next couple of weeks if I can repeat that pace.

REFLECTION TIME!!
3 Weeks Down and 49 more to go, but I say that without any since of eagnerness or anticipation to see this year end. As I've said before, the past two weeks were hectic with travel, work, and preparing for my travel. It makes it hard to find time to not only run, but also write about it. That being said, I need the blog because it keeps me motivated. I know that if it weren't for me advertising my running to the world wide web, that I normally wouldn't make time to run on Vacation. The same goes for working long days. I'd make an excuse on why I couldn't run before or why I could skip the next day. 1 or 2 days is okay, but how many missed opportunities would that up to over the course of a year? The blog keeps me focused on my goal, and although there are days that it may be much easier to slack off, I'll feel like a slacker if I do. So even though it may be hard, I'll suck it up and keep running.