The track finally shed its sleepy winter blanket of snow this past week. Thus, with that impediment removed, and temperatures in the 50s, accompanied by light winds and clear blue skies, a mile time trial this past Saturday was not only inviting, but essentially inevitable. The results were very encouraging, and even surprising for this time of year. No, I did not better my best mile time from last year, a 5:43 set in December 2007, and yes, that was an initial goal for early spring, recorded in a previous blog. By the time I stepped on the track Saturday, after several weeks of minimal running, (but substituted with x-country skiing), and only two weeks of about 4 days per week of running, I had downgraded my goal to a simple sub-6.
After a 2-mile warmup, I toed the line (by myself), and said "go" (to myself). The first lap often tells all, and as I passed the quarter in 1:25, and did not feel horrible, I felt that I had the goal in the bag, and concentrated on running 90-second quarters. The half was passed in 2:54 (89 seconds), again, feeling relatively ok, the 3/4 in 4:24 (90), and with a bit left in the 50-year-old legs, I managed another 85 second quarter to finish in a satisfying 5:49.2. This is not only my first mile of the year, but my first mile as a 50-year-old, so it was very significant to me. Last year, my first mile (April 2007) was only 6:21, so although I am one year older, things look promising.
As for a goal of sub-5 this year, I have not counted that out yet, but I'm taking it one step at a time. The next time out, I hope to beat last year's time of 5:43.
So now I have joined Eric in the 50+ club, and so far, running is not too bad!
An intersting post coming soon on "Running: Before and After GPS watches."
Mark
1 comment:
Very impressive.
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