July 9, 2009

Negative posts and negative splits

Wow, I have really sucked at posting lately! I blame this on my company’s use of Twitter to push out some new sale fares. Like most of my coworkers, I had never used Twitter before, so we created accounts in order to see what all the buzz is about, and now I’m having a ball searching for twits about my company and then responding to them. With that kind of posting going on during the day, I get home feeling like I’ve already had my social media fix, which has caused me to really neglect the blog!

I’ve been cranking away slowly and steadily on my race reports, which I know you are all just DYING to read. I have a big long queue of (in reverse chronological order) Running With the Devil, Hatfield McCoy, Sunburst, and Vermont City, all of which are in various stages of completion. I am really hoping to start finishing these up and blasting them out in quick succession, but I’m learning not to make promises because I really, really suck.

In other news, this morning I went for one of my first non-marathon runs today! Boyfriend decided he wanted to run into work, so I ran down the first 2.5 miles with him and then ran back home to shower and get ready for my own day. I absolutely loved running – why don’t I ever do this outside of races? It was really easy to just throw clothes on and go in the morning, and I now feel really productive for having already done 5 miles and gotten my workout done for the day. I’ve been really slacking on the workouts lately – most days I do nothing! I also think this is the first time in a few months that I’ve gone running without it being for a marathon – ouch, I sure am lazy. On the Runners World forums, in response to a post about how often people run between marathons, I half-jokingly posted that I never run between marathons because it’s just not motivating when there aren’t people clapping and you don’t get a medal at the end of a training run. At least, I thought I was half-kidding at the time. Now I realize I really am that horrible!

Regardless, I am going to get better! Boyfriend and I had so much fun this morning, and when I turned around to head for home by myself, I remembered how much I love running too. A few days ago, I was walking to the subway and ran into my old roommate who was out for a late morning run, so I e-mailed her today to see if maybe we can start going together. I think it’d be great for me to have running buddies – it’s hard to stay in bed if you know someone is waiting on you.

With regards to my time, I was pretty slow when I was running with Boyfriend. He’s just getting into running, so it’s a lot of effort for him to keep up a jog without taking walk breaks (which I encourage, but he refuses). So on the way down with him, we were running about a 10:30 pace… but on the way back, I pulled an 8:40 pace! Yay for negative splits. They are something I’ve never been able to do, but I’ve read all about what a great strategy it is for improving your time. Which brings me to:

This weekend, I’m serving as a pacer for the Missoula Marathon. Originally I had requested the 4:30 group, just like Vermont, but they wanted me to do 4:45 (definitely not a problem). Today, though, I found out that the pacers are going to be split into two groups: I’m only responsible for pacing the first half, and then I’m meeting up with another pacer who will take the group the rest of the way. So for the second half of the race, I can run whatever pace I want. If I do a 10:52 pace for the first half, I’m hoping that will leave me plenty of energy to then pick it up to a 9:21 pace for a 4:15 finish. Negative splits, here I come! 4:15 won’t be a PR or anything, but it will start training me for negative splits which will hopefully enable me to get a PR at another race. Maybe Carrollton, Michigan? Supposed to be flat and fast.

Final update for today is to invite you to check out my list of upcoming races, which has been updated with my plans through September. Hurray for me being a too-many-marathons nutcase! 🙂

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8 thoughts on “Negative posts and negative splits”

  1. I’ve started running with a group on Saturdays and Wednesday and with a friend two other days of the week to keep my motivation up. I still enjoy solo runs every so often but running with other people is FUN and motivating too!!

    I am still (and always will be) amazed at your ability to run marathons ALL THE TIME!

  2. I can’t wait to hear about the marathons! Glad to hear your back to running again…sometimes a break is good! It makes us really appreciate the sport even more! Enjoy your week and hurry up on those reports!

  3. Hi!
    I’ve been following your blog for a while! My husband just started running with him so I completely understand about the slower pace!

    Check out my blog at:
    seekaylarun.blogspot.com

    Have fun at your next marathon! You are really inspiring!

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