Cold Fusion

Tuesday
I did my weights routine, nothing eventful happened.

Wednesday
It was really very cold by the time I got out of work today, weather.com had it at 32 F. Precipitation was non-existent though and that counts for something in my book. I figured since the roads were clear and the obstacle was only the temperature, I should probably give the roads a shot. Since this was the coldest weather I had ever run in I really wasn't sure how many layers to wear. I knew my legs would be fine in shorts. I decided on compression shirt, cotton long sleeve shirt, and fleece jacket. It took about .3 miles before I noticed I was sweating. Since I pass my driveway at .7 miles I knew I could just hang the jacket on our mailbox. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the mp3 player since it was zipped into the jacket pocket, but then all of sudden the battery died. So everything got simple I could just shove the wires into the jacket and jettison the whole thing. I hit the driveway at 11:27, quicker than the last few times. Running without the jacket took about .1 miles to feel fine. I knew it was cold, but I never really felt cold. I passed the last mile mark at 11:24, the fastest I've ever ran this stretch by 3 seconds. This made me think I might have a chance at running this 2.5 miles faster than I've ever done it before. The last mile I can always seem to run a little faster. I did my best to not think about the time and just tried to use every bit of energy I had. Instead of treating the small hill near the end like a hill (slow down, shorten stride, keep breathing even), I just ran like normal up it. My legs were burning a little bit after that, but I was about a tenth of a mile from home so there was no point in slowing down with the driveway right there. I finished the last mile in 13:03, a PR for the mile by 1 second. Total time was a new best of 35:54. I was most surprised about that mile time because my previous mile PR's came from when I would take a walk and then just run a mile. Having it come after I've run a mile and a half is surprising, but I guess it proves to me that I am getting faster. For the first time I feel like I might have a shot at running Sunday's 5k faster than my first one.