My HAPPY PACE!

"The Task Ahead of You is never Greater than the Strength Within You." - Unknown

I am not very "tech savvy" and God knew that when he made me.
But he made me with a pretty good internal pace setter. I am pretty good at knowing my pace and maintaining it to a certain point. Like the point where I am exhausted and in pain!
Today you don't need a built in gauge when it comes to knowing your pace. There are many more accurate tools available to take the strain off your brain.

When I first started running I didn't have anything but a cheap watch. I would run and only focus on my time because that is all I had or knew. I didn't even know that there was a thing called "Pace"! All I knew was there was a thing called DEPRESSION!

• My first Pace Keeper was like my running partner. The Nike +. I still have the chips and pocket holders. It was only as accurate as how you calibrated it. I loved having someone in my ears telling me my pace, time or distance. Nike+ has a user friendly online journal for all your runs. Nike plus

• It wasn't until just 3 years ago that I got my first Garmin. Now I LOVE my Garmin. VERY accurate due to GPS which makes it very easy to stay on pace. Garmin Forerunner

• I personally do not like running with my phone but there are some great running aps that provide you with constant feedback while running. I hear a lot of great feedback from the Runkeeper pro for the Iphone and the Android. RunKeeper

• My first marathon I used a Marathon Pace Band. I loved this thing. These are great for race day and they are FREE! Pace Bands.

Todays PACESETTER: DREADMILL
The boys had the day off school due to good old Mother Nature. I woke up miserable. I have a head cold and drainage. So I slept in till 7am. It felt great.
I had an appointment with the Personal Trainer at GAC at 9:45. I gave the boys the option to go with me or hang out at home. I was hoping they would go with me. Swimming and playing basketball trumped sleeping in! LOVE IT!

I was drawn to the track. I longed for the track. I saw so many runners dancing around the lanes but I braced myself and reluctantly headed to the DREADMILL.
I headed in that direction because I NEEDED to know my pace and accurately without a lot of thinking!

SPEEDWORK. For me speed work means heading to the hurt locker. The more pain I am in the harder is it for me to calculate my pace, time or even distance. Andy usually goes with me to the track and helps coach me and calculates my repeats. Doing speed work outside  this time a year is really difficult due to the snow and ice. So running inside is best to get a quality run in without getting injured.
I jumped on the TM talking myself into running repeats. 800 meter repeats. 2 laps around the track and 1 lap of fast walking.
All I had to do was punch in the numbers. Oh yeah...and RUN! I wish running was as easy as punching in the numbers.
Repeats are beneficial for to improving speed.
Bart Yasso says that your 800meter repeat is your predicted marathon time..Ran consistently. Not just once around the track!
After running 6 miles. 8X800m repeats I came to the conclusions that I need to kick it up a notch. I have A LOT of work to do!! And I HATE speed work!

One of the hardest parts about my run today was staying focused on MY TRAINING. It was keeping my legs in my own lane. It looked like way more fun on the track but I knew I wouldn't be able to PACE myself properly. I had to clear my mind of all distractions. That meant to not look at the cute blonde running with her makeup on to perfection or to not pay attention to the guy next to me who kept looking at my digits on my treadmill. It meant I needed to be encouraged by other peoples strengths and to be motivated by other runners sweat!
I find that a lot of people get jealous or compare themselves to others and are more of a discouragement to theirselves and others. RUN your OWN PACE. And if you want to be a better runner...ENCOURAGE others.
But in the end FIND YOUR OWN HAPPY PACE!!

"For the novice runner, I'd say to give yourself at least 2 months of consistently running several times a week at a conversational pace before deciding whether you want to stick with it. Consistency is the most important aspect of training at this point."  Frank Shorter

How do you find your HAPPY PACE?? Are you encouraged by others or do you find yourself comparing yourself and not running your own race?
CHALLENGE: Encourage someone and YOU will BE ENCOURAGED.

Anita