Pacing and fabulous food

Yesterday, my company did an employee appreciation thing where they had a taco/burrito bowl bar for all of us from one of my favorite places, Chipotle. I made an awesome bowl of cilantro-lime brown rice, lettuce, chicken, black beans, avocado, and shredded cheese. SO good…slight indulgence considering I had to get a run in that night.

After work I had to run to the grocery store since the fiancé and I were out of food and had resorted to eating soup from a can for lunches – yeesh! I was a little tired when I got home but knew I had to get my run in. Saturday is my next half marathon and I’m trying to pace my run to accomplish my time goal of 2:29:59 (or somewhere around there, less than 2:30:00).

I have really struggled in recent weeks to keep my pace where I’m supposed to be to accomplish that time. I tried something new last night – I did my first mile, and then did some quick leg stretches for 45 seconds and then continued running. What a great idea! I avoided the normal tightness in my legs that usually occurs for me around mile 1.5 – 2, and was able to finish my 3 miler feeling good. The only probably, again, was that I paced incorrectly and finished almost 4 minutes ahead of schedule, even with my 45 second stretch break. I’m a little worried about Saturday’s half, because my last half, I went out way too fast for the first few miles and completely crashed at the end. This time, I’m working on pacing and trying to keep within my time goal, even if it means a couple breaks like doing some stretching after my first mile or so, and walking at the water stations to avoid side aches. We’ll see what Saturday brings!