Setting the Bar

I went to the gym last night and I ran on the treadmill. I was feeling pretty good, in spite of a gut full of mashed potatoes (that's right, the husband brought home 2 servings of potatoes!), so I ran the first 1/2 of my workout at .5 miles faster than usual. (So, at 6.5 mph, rather than 6) Then, I ran the rest of my workout at the normal pace. It felt a lot easier to run the second half than it normally does. I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting better or because it felt easier than the faster pace.

I'm not sorry that I stepped it up a little bit last night. But, that sort of brings up another problem. Once you raise the bar, it's hard to feel good about meeting the old bar. Because now the bar has been raised, you are now below bar. Boo. Running faster during every workout is a scary thought, because it feels fast already. So, now if I do what I have been struggling to do so far (run 28 min at 6 mph), I have fallen behind. Sigh. It's exhausting just to think about it.

Also, I have decided that speed is somewhat relative. My mom told me this week that my aunt can walk (that's right walk) 3 miles in 30 minutes. Which for those math-y types out there, that means shes walking at 6 mph. There is no way I could walk at that pace. My mom says that Janet (auntie) is really tall, so she can take really long strides. Well that makes a certain amount of sense. That is also such a pain in the ass. Because I'm not tall. I top out at 5'2". So, I'm probably taking 3 steps per Janet's 1. That's sad. Oh well, if I can get a better workout at a slower speed because of my short legs, then I guess that's just fine with me. Getting the workout is the thing, right?