Running Alone is hard

I decided to go to the park tonight to run because it was such a nice night. Overall, I think this was a good idea but the run was kind of difficult. I am not good at running alone. I have no ability to judge my pace and I tend to run too fast and then suffer for it. Last night was really no different than my other experiences.

I stared out with a plan to run 5/1 intervals. That was OK and I did fine with this for the first mile. I was running a little fast though and had some stiffness in my shins that threw me off a little even though it was gone by the time I hit the 1.5 mark. At 1.5 I walked 2 minutes instead of 1 because I was wrestling with my water bottle that I kind of hate.

I decided that to switch to 4/1 intervals for the second half of the run because it's easier to do the math that way. I know that sounds stupid but for me it's much simpler to do. I felt OK though all of this but I knew that I was going faster than I should during the run portion and then walking too slowly during the walk breaks. It was kind of a disaster although I think I managed to keep the same pace I normally run on the treadmill so I guess it was OK. I covered 3.5 miles in the official 40 minute required session. (Pace: 11:26)

I still had to get back to the car so I kept up the running intervals although I didn't really time them from this point I just winged it and pushed to get in an even 4 miles before heading home. I got to mile 4 in 45:44. (Pace: 11:26 -- how's that for consistent!)

Overall I guess I did OK but I'm not really loving the intervals. I mean, it's easier than running the whole time, and less intimidating, but I'm not sure that it's really what I want to do. I think I'm this method as a way to make it easier when I should be pushing myself to learn how to do this running thing the right way. Still, I think it's my only option at this point. I think I need to accept that I'll be doing this or something like it in my races this year and hope that maybe my next efforts can be with sustained running. I have to remember that this is all new to me still and I have to adjust to it.

The good news is that what I'm doing is clearly the right thing as far as my body is concerned. I've had virtually no pain from anything and usually by now I'd be having some kind of IT band issue and that's been held off so far. Even earlier this spring when I ran the same route I tried last night I had to cut it short after about a mile because my knee was killing me.