Lately I have had a good amount of success when it comes to running improvements. Yearly PR after PR have fallen, everyday has show a new level of physical performance (wow that sounds really good! Way better than the reality!) While this is a great thing at some point it has to end. Improvement has to peak somewhere, sometime. We reach plateaus that aren’t easily broached. A malaise starts up as the falling PRs become a thing of the past. Why am I no longer improving? Waaaaah! So that isn’t going to happen with me. I am fine with an average run and today was one of those despite my pace being faster than 9:30. Run felt great, I feel great, and I didn’t push myself beyond what I can comfortably deal with (especially with a rehearsal tonight).

Knowledge from the numbers can be a tricky thing. It can be illuminating and inspiring. It can also be depressing and discouraging. Still I think ew are better off knowing what is going on with our runs in order to maximize what we get out of them. Plus it is kind of fun sometimes trying to run down a PR, heck even holding back on the running to maintain a low HR can be fun (maybe I have gone off the edge here.)

It’s getting to that time of year when I need to start dragging water around with me when I run. Slow sips really help with the dehydration issues from a hot run. Gotta drag it out of my equipment crate! Actually a new water bottle carrier is probably in my near future as my old one was getting pretty worn and crappy (IIRC the belt has to be attached with safety pins (just like my HR strap)). New gear!