Dragons

So yesterday was the big first workout. After Monday's easy 6 (and the previous weeks of easy other amounts of miles), I was pretty excited but very much worried. I knew I had no speed but doing a workout alone -- nothing points to how little speed one has like that.

So anyways, the schedule called for a 15 min warm up, 20 at 6:20, and a 15 min cool down. I decided to do this around the bike path at Reid. Jogging over from my house, I met up with U of A's Obed Mutanya as we waited to cross Broadway near my house. We chatted for a minute about his race in Seattle last weekend and then parted ways. He was knocking out 80 min and was heading to ODC. I already knew my warm up was going to be closer to 20 minutes so I had to cut over past the track.

As I continued to Reid, I couldn't help but think about how seriously some of those guys take their warmth. I mean, it was 3 pm and I was even contemplating going out without a shirt. Obed, on the other hand, was in full-on Arizona warm ups. Nice guy though. Every time I've passed him on runs, he's given a wave or something.

So anyways, I got to the zero mark in about 20 minutes. There I dropped my shirt, did a couple stretches and was off. While there were plenty of people on the path, I was glad I didn't have to do too much weaving. The wind was noticeable but nothing no concerning as the gusts seemed far-between. I went through half in 3:05 and and mile 1 in 6:15. At this point, I could definitely tell my breathing was hard but, worse than that, my form must have been really funky. Along Alvernon I felt like I popped into a groove and this made the workout more tolerable.

Near the driving range I passed Obed again. We exchanged little waves and, like a true competitor, he sucked the life out of me right there. Yes, this guy is such a badass that he will break you, in warm ups, jogging a different direction, and not even notice.

Brutal.

Not knowing where the two-mile mark was, I began worrying as I turned west. I ended up coming through in 12:44 (for a hearty 6:29). My legs were feeling crummy, my form was definitely jacked (I believe arm drive may have been minimal), and I was barely half-way done. I tried to hold it together and came through 3 miles in 19:15 (6:31) before finishing it out by reaching the end of the railing.

As I went back and got my shirt, I was very disappointed with my showing. The times were obviously bothersome as I was well off pace, but worse than that, I felt that my effort was lacking. This sentiment, however, went away as I discovered I basically had to drop it down to ultra-marathon pace for the cool down back to my house. The legs were definitely tired and, reconsidering, there probably wasn't a whole lot more I could have done out there yesterday. I just need to work on keeping on pace and keeping an eye on my body instead of letting is fall off pace and settle in.

Since this is my first program week, I have no workout tomorrow (which is exciting for me) so the rest of this week should be some easy runs until Sunday's 10 or so.


Obed -- Daily Star's 'Choices Tucson Makes' Survey -- Lighthouse 5k Race Report