Taking it up a notch

In my ongoing effort to speed up my running, I did a pretty good job over the weekend in the Boston area at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, although the wind nearly blew me away and the Boston College track team nearly ran me over.

(Boy do those kids run fast. And when they were done, some even stopped to life ginormous weights.)

Back home, yesterday was my day to increase my mileage to four miles. As I set out, I wondered if the occasion warranted skipping my little drill of running quickly every so often up to whatever point I picked out, say, a bench or a tree with an interesting shape. I know that pushing yourself like this gets you used to a quicker pace overall. Ugh. It's not fun, but it does pay off.

I would have asked my coach's opinion, but since I am my own coach, I decided on keeping up the slightly faster pace but skipping the so-called speed drills.

Next came the wavering that comes with an added challenge, i.e. "Do I really need to do this and doesn't it count that I already walked the dog?"

Inner coach said, "Just shut up and do it."

Once I committed, it was fine, and I almost got to that point when you're running and not thinking about it. That's where the payoff is, to run along and let your mind wander and not think about what you're doing every step of the way.