Eight Hours.

I completed my first eight hour work shift today, well seven and a half because of the mandatory 30 min lunch, and it wasn't......horrible. I mean I know that's what i'll be doing when I become a teacher/coach, so I better get used to it. Actually, I'll probably be going from six till five, (when I become a teacher) which is eleven hours. Not good!!! haha.

Anyways, I woke up at six, (ugh...) so that I could sneak in a short, shakeout run. My game plan was three miles easy; nothing too hard, but just long enough to where my legs would wake up. I planned on running 7:30min/mile pace, the same pace I ran on thursday morning. As I shuffled out of my driveway and headed down the road, I could feel yesterday's evening run in my legs, (Five miles avg. 6:50 pace, with the last mile in 6:30). Nonetheless, I shuffled down the road and out of my development.

I looked at my GARMIN as I turned out of my neighborhood, 4:35. Turning onto Sunrise BLVD, I headed down towards Meridian with the smell of fast-food breakfast sandwiches attacking my taste buds. About 150 meters onto Sunrise BLVD, my watch beeps. Lap 1: 7:20. First mile was a little fast, but it felt super smooth and I knew that naturally, my pace would quicken as I woke up. As I rounded the corner onto Meridian, I checked my watch, 1.40 miles. Only another tenth of a mile and then I would trek back home.

When my watch read 1.50 miles, I shuffled to a stop, quickly turned around, and headed back home. At this point during the run, I was comparing this shakeout to Thursday's. While I went a 1/2 mile farther on thursday, I felt A LOT smoother on this crisp morning. I hear my watch beep again a few minutes later. Lap 2: 6:56. Now that was a little too fast, but for some reason I didn't mind. I still felt comfortable and my heart was hovering around 160bpm, so I just kept it the same pace (or so I thought). As I head up the small hills on 110th and back to my neighborhood, I still feel pretty good. I have a tendency to pick up my pace during the last kilometer of my run, but I tried (honestly), to maintain the 7:00min/mile pace. A few strides before my garage door, my watch beats yet again. Lap 3: 6:46. Well that may have been a little too fast for a shakeout, but whatever. I averaged 7:01 pace for the run as a whole, which is 24 second faster than my pace on Thursday.

In my mind, the shakeout run was a success. I got in a nice easy run and my avg. HR was 155, the lowest it has been all summer (assuming). I can tell I am getting more fit, but with only two and a half weeks left, whose to know how my teammates have been preparing...