Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

I guess the humidity is really holding in the heat over night.

Congratulations on the opportunity to sleep in tomorrow. I'm looking forward to Saturday, where I get to sleep in until 6:30 or maybe even 6:45! The former me never would have called that sleeping in.

Yes, do your best tomorrow and live with it, and you're right that whatever effort you make will benefit you. Don't worry about it.

You can do it, Sno! Think of it as a 5K with a bonus mile. I wish I could run it with you!

The humidity this morning was nasty, no?

Just look at the garmin at each mile split, then adjust your pace accordingly. The real time pace indication is very inaccurate on the garmin, and can be quite discouraging when you feel like you're running a hard effort and you look at the watch and it sais 10:40 when in reality you're running an 8:50. Psychologically it's a real downer for me to see that even though I know it's not correct.

Beware the negative thoughts! They can sabotage you before you even step out the door! BEGONE EVIL THOUGHTS!!!!

You can do it. He wouldn't have assigned the workout if he didn't think you could, and he's got more experience at this running thing than most of us. Coaches don't generally assign more than we're capable of.....generally they hold us back from overreaching so we don't hurt ourselves. You gotta believe you can do it, before and during the run, or you'll be absolutely correct and your mind will shut you down long before your body has had the change to perform! You *can* do it!!!

(Forgive the liberal use of exclamation points and capitalization in this message.....)

Thanks for the pep talk, Dale. I have a lot of stress right now because my mother-in-law is coming tomorrow to stay for about a week. All the stress and doubt seems to go into one giant bucket, no matter what issue it belongs to. I'll remember your words in the morning. :)

This probably sounds horrible, but use that to psych yourself up. Just demo your ability to execute a good tempo run and an in-law will be easy to handle. :)

Don't let running become the stressor....it's what helps you dump that stress bucket. I used to *dread* tempos/steady state runs, and it showed....sometimes they'd go well but more often than not I'd struggle mightly. I finally flushed my bad attitude and tried my best to go into each feeling like they would be achievable....not easy, but certainly doable. It helped quite a bit, which isn't to say I never tanked another, but usually there was a good reason instead of the "psyched myself out" reason.

So.....learn from my mistakes. I made plenty for everyone!

LOL

I think the pressure comes from knowing there is a number (pace) attached to it. I thought the hill repeats were tough, but the requirement was based on effort, so I viewed it as kind of fun. I think once I've done one of these workouts and take away the fear of the unknown I will feel a lot better. I have tempo runs every other week. Tempo and hill reps one week, intervals the next.

Last bit of whining - I promise. I've been on my feet cleaning and weeding and shopping for two days in a row and my dogs are barking! I can't help but wonder if this is like going dancing the night before a marathon. But it's out of my control. At least I DO get to go to bed early and I might get over 8 hours tonight- woohoo!!

Thanks again!

good luck Sno -- remember what you told Auntie ... training is training. No matter what happens (though I am sure you will do great!) it is a baseline yardstick that will you use in the upcoming weeks, months and years to measure your training. My first workouts are always a little rusty ... I will be sending you rays of strength tomorrow (in my sleep).

I can't wait to hear how this run goes!

I agree the real time Garmin pace is funky sometimes. I have changed my thingy to show how long I have been doing that particular lap/mile and then my average pace and of course the distance. I ahve found that is a better indicator of how I'm doing. Sometimes the real time one would say I'm going 8:00min pace and I"m like what? I'm barely moving so I would slow up a bit and I would all of a sudden be at 11. Frustrating!

Sorry your MIL is coming to town...I hope she doesn't stress you out too much!

Bonnie - I told Auntie that because I learned it from you!