On the Road Again

So it was beautiful out yesterday (for early February in Ohio) 41 degrees!
So I decided to take my workout outside.

Now I have been getting outside whenever possible, so my knees don't get too weak from running on the treadmill all the time. But this is the first time I have taken this specific route that is rather hilly. My left hamstring was hurting a little so I decided to stretch a little after my run. What this is telling me is that I really need to get outside more to get my body back into road shape. As always, you need to practice what you race, and I have never seen a treadmill race before. (but, I am sure they are out there) I am not saying treadmills are bad but anything over 50% I would say is bad over time. My GPS battery died along the way as well so according my my watch I only went 3.1 miles. After I got back I mapped it out and it ended up being 6.8 miles in 62 mins. Not too great, not too shabby but fun times.

Let me just say that I love... and hate my Suunto Watch. I hate it because it doesn't give me the information I "want". I could change the settings to make me view what I "want". However, defaultly, when I am monitoring my HR, my speed and distances are not shown. That forces me to change screens if I want to know how far I have gone. This is exactly what I like about it. I run for my allotted time and when I am done I can see what I have done.

Time and effort level is better than distance! You will hear so many coaches say this. Many new running only see miles and calories. I fell into this trap as well. Think about this... You could go out on a beautiful day on a flat course and run 8 min miles for an hour. But then you can run an hour in 25 mile/ hour winds in the snow entirely uphill for an hour. If you keep your effort level (sometimes that relates to HR) the same on both runs you will get the same out of it, if not more from the hill work. The mileage will be far different. If you are worried about what people "might" say about your mileage? ("Only 4 .3 miles! not 5", something like that) Don't worry about them, work your own workout, just know what you CAN do and show them up at the race!

I guess after writing this, I may have to say this is coming from an endurance point of view. Sprinting may be different. I don't know.