I get up fairly early on the days I work — 5 a.m. — so I don’t typically do things before I go into the office. But this morning was different.
I got up at 4:30 so I could go to the gym. What the hell is wrong with me?
I mentally prepared myself last night. I washed my running gear and I went to bed on time. (Although, I didn’t end up sleeping very well. I had this dream that I was sleeping on a fold-out bed and Mr. T was in the same room on a different bed, a real one, and T Junior was in a crib like you see in a hotel. We heard chatter from an animal. Mr. T said it was probably a raccoon and that he would hate to be sleeping on a bed where the raccoon could crawl up the side from underneath. We figured it was probably trapped underneath the couch part of the fold-out bed. Um…that would be my bed! So, yeah, that was one of the times I woke up, and with drool all over the pillow, too. Yay.)
At 4:30, I got ready and then drove to the gym in my workout clothes with my “career” clothes (jeans and a sweatshirt) in my gym bag. I got there just after 5 and there were more people exercising than I thought there would be (they were almost all on ellipticals, what is it with ellipticals?).
I stepped up on the treadmill for two slow miles. I am, after all, running 16 with Jill tomorrow and don’t want to kill my legs. In fact, I probably shouldn’t even have gone running today, but I felt like it. I didn’t even hit the snooze button this morning!
4/15/10 – 2 Miles – 22:25
11:12 pace
Also, I checked out the McMillan Running Calculator on Wednesday. Have you used this? I was really surprised at how slow it said I should be doing my long runs: 11:18-12:18. Interesting.
14 comments
That's me on Tuesdays & Thursdays. 4AM comes early. But I'm a single mom during the week. It's early or nothing.
Way to go Megan! That's awesome!
Holy early lady! People should only see one 4:30 in their day…but great job! I'm pretty much a single mom all the time, so the Y childcare doesn't open until 10, no early mornings for me, darn. I tried to convince them to open it at 6 AM and they thought no one would use it. I said, “HELLO!! i would!!!!” Nice to know I'm not the only crazy out there! ;)I checked out that McMillian Running Caluclator too! Based on my 20 miler I will finish the full marathon in 4:27.42! We will see! and my long runs, yeah I should be running them about 3 and a half minutes slower than I am. What in the world? I am sure it is right but I have a hard time following it.Have fun tomorrow with Jill!!! 16 miles! You guys are going to be so ready for your full marathon! i kinda wish I had more time, i don't feel like i am prepared as i could be.
I use the McMillian calculator. I was surprised at the paces it gave me for long runs too. I just run them at whatever is comfortable and mostly use it to determine what my faster paces should be.
That's closer to late than early! Good for you. Hope the 16 goes well!
Interesting link to the McMillan calculator. Do you know if using that pacing is supposed to help you better the time you entered or maintain it?
5 is early, but 4:30 is REALLY early! Great job for not even hitting the snooze! I think everyone was on the ellipticals because I feel the ellipticals are pretty easy, especially after you just rolled out of bed!
Mornings are best for me also. My gym opens at 5am and it used to be that there would be maybe only a couple more people there but I guess the word has spread and now we have a nice, big group exercising, same faces a bit sleepy but happy not to have to wait for treadmills or ellipticals.
Good for you getting up so early! Since working from home, I'm definitely not a morning workout person!
Yeah the calculator shows really slow ones for me too but I like that :Dp.s. I totally referenced you in my post today hope you don't mind! 😀
Look at you getting up super early to run! I love it. Wish I could do the same!McMillan is my best friend. Love that tool!
Wow! Good for you for getting going that early…I have a feeling that's just not gonna happen for me 🙂
I dont use the paces that McMillan gives…I would have to purposely SLOW way down. But I do like the Marathon time predicted for me..Hugs to running with Jilly
Ah. Early AM wake up calls. The life of a runner! Interesting what McMillan tells you huh? Most other training plans also tell the same story. The problem is most people are too obsessed with speed that they ignore the right way to train. It took me two years to realize that training was training and racing was racing. The problem was I was training like I was racing. Once I slowed down in all except my quality sessions, I watched my PRs drop by minutes….