Wind and shorts

This past was a "cut back" week, with mixed feelings and varied runs. The workouts were also scheduled in a strange way, on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. I was not sure about the two consecutive days, but I was thankful for an extra day of rest after the 16K.

Wednesday: 8km "fast".
I have never liked wind. When I played tennis I could stand any weather condition from hot to cold, even the light misty rain didn't bother me much (outdoor tennis doesn't work with heavy rain, you know), but the wind... I hated that. Made playing almost impossible, took control of the ball and of the game. And it even gave me headaches.
Well, Wednesday was definitely a windy day, and I found out that I don't like wind any more now than I did back then. Luckily the pace in my training program was very relaxed and not really reflecting my current ability so what defined "fast" there was actually quite comfortable, but boy was it mentally hard. I kept checking the Garmin to see how long I still had to go, with that anxiety (and frequency of the question) also typical of young children on long journeys... "are we there yet?"

Saturday: 5km jog.
Uneventful run, really. A bit boring even. I kept telling myself that this was just a warm up for Sunday's run, or I would have sped up too much to get it over with as soon as possible.
Actually, I have to report that this uneventful and boring run led to a milestone: my first bloody sock :-p

Sunday: 8km, race simulation.
This was supposed to be just "fast", but I decided to do a sort of race simulation and test myself in order to later recalculate the pace in my training program. It was a beautiful clear day, temperature in the double digits (just 10℃, but those are indeed two digits, aren't they?) already early in the morning and, most importantly, without wind. I put on shorts and t-shirt for the first time this year, and off I went. I was surprised to see that none of the other runners I met had opted for shorts, but I was glad I had. I tried to run reasonably fast, let's say half way between comfort and puking limit... it was not the ultimate race after all and I still need to be gentle with my joints.
Looking back at the data, I can say that I managed my energies pretty wisely: I ran with a negative split and the last km was the fastest of all, with a pace 25 to 39 seconds faster than the other segments.

And I still managed to smile :-)