Morning Lake Run

On the schedule for today was a 3 mile easy run. The plan is always to wake up early and get out of the house before the children are stirring. That's tough to do when one of your kids wakes up at 3:15am....

My wife - the saint that she is - tended to the little one from 3:15 to somewhere around 5am. At that point I could sense she was bubbling over, so then it was my turn. Somewhere around that time, the little one woke up my older son as well, so the entire house was awake. Joy, joy, joy! I keep reminding myself that in a few years these kids will sleep in until noon and we'll need to pry their lazy butts out of bed with a crowbar...but I only half believe it on mornings like this.

Given that Sherry was up for a few hours already and wanted to rest, I wasn't about to leave for a relaxing run at 5:30am. So I took the breakfast shift and got my older one ready for school.

Finally, I was out of the house for my run at 7am. The sun was starting to rise, so I felt comfortable running around the neighborhood lake instead of the other neighborhood 3 mile route that I take when it is dark. The morning sky featured layers of clouds tinted in shades of orange, gold and pink by the sunrise - what a great time to run!

I ended up not really getting into a rhythm during the run...I'm not sure why. My heart rate was a bit higher than I wanted it to be - it elevated as I crested a few hills early and then I didn't get it back into the 140s which is where it should be for an easy run. However, my average HR ended up being 152, so I guess I didn't do too bad.

Final stats: 3.21 miles in 34:07, 10:38/mile pace, avg HR 152, max HR 166.

Three weeks ago, I ran this as one of my first runs after my chest cold. In three weeks my pace has improved 35 sec per mile with a lower average HR. It's nice to see the improvements that consistent training brings.

I am bracing myself for slower times next week, as my neighborhood is holding a blood drive this Saturday. I never got back to the Red Cross office to try another Platelets donation, so I'm going to donate whole blood this weekend instead. After my long run on Saturday morning, of course!