Running Update: Time to Celebrate Progress

In my race report from Santa Rosa, I made a comment that progress is addicting. I think that is one of the things that compels athletes to continue progressing along. Throughout my short life as a triathlete, I have told people that there is something cathartic about crossing the finish line no matter how you got there. You finished–goal accomplished. (Maybe this is because it is in stark contrast to my day job where our work is never done because someone always needs help–but that’s for another blog.)

I am starting to get that finish line feeling each time I finish a difficult run workout. Tuesdays are interval days and Fridays are tempo runs. My training plan has me running these FAST! Well, fast for me 🙂 This week I had a 15 minute tempo run at race pace and last week was 10 min. I knew I could do this weeks workout because I had done last weeks workout of 10 min and I knew I could hang on for another five! Many of my close friends have been telling me for a while that I can run faster than I think I can and I am finally starting to believe that! Yay!

So the things I have to celebrate include…

• running consistently (4-6 days a week) for the past three weeks
• hitting all the paces for my interval and tempo runs
• running at my goal race pace for 15 minutes in this weeks tempo run
• not stopping to run at all during the 5K run portion of the Santa Rosa Island Triathlon last weekend
• not walking but keeping a jog for my recovery intervals
• striking on the mid to forefront of my sole (instead of heel striking) over 90% of the time
• finding some of the joy of running, again 🙂

What progress are you making that we can celebrate?