I Believe I Can Touch The Sky

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
And nobody else has to believe in me, except me.  Thanks Cris for mentioning Me First and the Gimme Gimme’s.  I dig them.

I won’t write about the fact, that I almost jacked up my knee yesterday doing wrong form squats.  I won’t write about the fact, that deep down I started panicking because the weather has turned into prime running weather, and I could have been sidelined.  I won’t write about the fact that even though I felt a twinge in my knee, I kept on doing wrong form squats because I needed to finish the workout.

A day off and 2 advil later, I will write about that fact that I did a kick ass speed workout.  My first EVAH.  I spent way too much time trying to set up Seth for the workout with no luck.  I am a technical geek that knows nothing.  Well, if you count pressing start and stop knowing something, then yeah I rock.  So, I did it the old skool ridiculous way.  I literally reset Seth after each interval.  Yeah, thats the way I roll.

I have to say I loved loved loved this workout.  By no means, is this an epic amazing workout, but I loved it.  I loved the sense of speed I felt running into the wind.  I loved how I ran right by somebody and how he told me afterwards that he couldn’t catch me even if he tried.  I especially loved how it made me feel right after I stopped to a very slow jog to recover only to do it again and again.

Now that I have experienced a speed workout, I am hooked.  I am addicted.  I want to do it again and again.  Ok, well once a week.  I think this speed thing is exactly what I have been looking for the entire summer.  All my frustration has been built on the fact that my pace has been stagnant and even though I ran my ass off, my pace just stayed the same.  I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t progressing.

Until today.

Speed workouts are where its at.  It may not be for every runner.  I guess it all depends what you want to achieve.  I now have a few races that I am signed up for.

October 24th – Nike Human Race in Prospect Park this is a 10K I believe.

November 22nd – Turkey Trot 5K up on the boardwalk where I run daily! WOO! Winner gets a turkey! I want to make this race a yearly tradition. I am friends with the man who is the organizer of this race. Good guy!  (ran this last year in 27.55)

November 26th – Prospect Park Turkey Trot 5 miler. Another race I want to make a tradition. What better than to run 5 miles and then eat?

December 12th – NYRR Holiday 5K Prospect Park

Of course PR’s would be phenomenal but I will do my best and that is the best I can do!!  But, I do have some thoughts flowing around in my head about how I want to handle these races.  I also realized today, that I do much better in shorter races.  I ran two very hard and disappointing half marathons, neither of which I reached my goals.  No excuses at all.  I just know I do better and enjoy shorter distance races.  So, why stress out thinking I “have” to run halfs or marathons.  I don’t and I probably won’t.

So, my workout today went something like this:

Warm Up – .50 4.54 (9.52 min/mile)
Interval 1 – .51 4.10 (8.16 min/mile)
Interval 2 – .50 4.09 (8.20 min/mile)
Interval 3 – .50 4.20 (8.46 min/mile)
Interval 4 – .50 4.15 (8.32 min/mile)
C/D – .50 5.33 (11.07 min/mile)

Question please:
What is the proper amount of time in between each interval do start the next one?

I feel great and really enjoyed this workout. ST4’s did their job. No biking today but I am digging biking a lot.  Whole different workout, whole different perspective, whole different blog post.

Some people create with words, or with music, or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, “I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.” It’s more than just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better than anyone else. It’s being creative.

EDIT:  I lost another toenail today.  That makes two with another very loose and flapping back and forth.  Just thought I would share.