Speed(?) drill

I tried. I really, really tried.

I was supposed to do a warm-up mile, three 11:03 miles and then a cool-down mile. Since I was accompanied by my husband and we were on our usual 10K route, I decided to add additional walking miles at the beginning and end, and go an additional .8 of a mile. Theoretically we would be walking the last mile at about the same time.

It was the middle three that killed me – I averaged an 11:43 pace for those miles. And it was so, so hard.

I don’t have much of a hill strategy, and – this being the Middle of Nowhere, West Virginia – even a relatively flat road has a slope or two. I had high hopes that a swift descent would more than make up for a slow ascent, but it didn’t work that way.

I’m consoling myself with the fact that it’s still early in the training schedule. Yesterday was Day One of Week Three. And it was my first tempo run outdoors. I don’t have to run hills on the treadmill unless I want to.

Which, of course, I never do.

So I caught up with my husband at the end of the third speed (cough, cough) mile and rather leisurely (comparatively) walked the remaining route. The good thing is the speed drill is done, done, done for this week.

Thanks for all your comments recently. Just like nearly every blogger in the blogiverse, I love comments. It’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one aiming for a goal and working hard to get there. It’s comforting to realize we’re in this struggle together. The only team sport I participated in as a young girl was softball, and our team lost every game in the two years I played. Perhaps weight loss is the team sport of the 30- to 50-something crowd?