Week Five, Saturday - Goal Accomplished!

I did it! I ran two miles without stopping, and faster than I thought I'd be able to. I didn't plan to do the two miles today - after all, the end of April isn't even here yet (I did it!) but I felt so good after 20 minutes that I knew I could do another five. I sped up so that I could make the two mile mark in another six minutes and just ran.

As much as I scoffed and moaned and complained about running outside, I'm convinced that's what made today so...easy. It felt like I was just breezing through the minutes. My shins, which were sore while running on Thursday and all day yesterday, ached a little today, but not even enough to merit notice. I only mention them because I think they'll continue to be a problem if I run outside. But I can't not now, because it made running inside so much easier. I felt my form breaking a little after about 3 1/2 minutes at 4.7 (23 1/2 min total) and my heart rate was consistently over 170, near my 85% rate. That tells me that while I can do it, it was probably just past my comfort zone and I can stay there with practice. I'll decide and start on my May goal next week.

In the meantime, I'm off to determine if there are stretches I can do to keep my shins from being painful, since if I'm going to run outside the day of rest just isn't enough. Yay me!

W5 - 3.5, R20 - 4.5/R6 - 4.7, W5 - 3.5, W5 - 3.0 = 46min/2.76m