The 5 am run

There is just something about getting up in the morning and running before most of the world is still asleep in bed. I love running in the morning dark and watching the sky slowly light up. I love startling the bunnies on the route who are wondering who this crazy person it! It feels like I'm in my own world and can focus on my thoughts, my running technique, the music playing in my ears. I've missed this as I stopped running for a couple of years because of the plantar fascitis. But I'm back.

Mind you, I'm not thinking about all of these wonderful things when that alarm clack goes off. All I want to do was turn around and sleep for another hour. Some days, that's exactly what I do. Luckily, that's not what happens every morning :)

I'm up to running 2.5 miles. I have only a few more weeks to go until the Irongirl triathlon. But when I consider that last year, I did not run at all in the months leading up to the triathlon, I know I'm in a much better place. I did run a "practice" 5K on Monday morning - hadn't planned on it but really wanted to do it. I finished just under 40  minutes!!

It got me thinking about what my times were last year. This morning I got on the website:
     Swim (800m):  14:23
     Bike (19m):     1:31.51
     Run (5K):        47:53

Chatting with Andrea last week on our bike ride on the Legacy Trail (nice new pic on your blog, by the way, Andrea!) we talked about our goals. And I need to revise them:

1. to go easy on the swim - I know that this is strange as the swim is my best leg. But I want this as a warm-up and not increase my heart rate too much so that I have to start my bike leg with a recovery period. That zaps my strength every time!
2. ride up the big hills OR fall off the bike trying - I believe that making it up those two hills is a mental issue. But, just in case those hills are too big for me to make it, I need to try or fall off trying. ONLY then, can I walk up the remainder of the hill.
3. run the 5K - It would be ideal if I don't walk at all. But considering it'll be at the end of a 2 hour effort, it'll be ok if walk a couple of minutes.

Starting off this week with a swim and a bike ride. I went to spin class last week because of all of the wind. Today, the warmth is not our friend but I think  Andrea and I will be heading out anyway to get some more time on the roads. 

Have a great week! I'm heading to the Rolex for four days but I'm still planning on getting in my workouts. I'll just have to be creative... maybe run alongside the horses?